Investments: Perstorp acquires OQ Chemicals Dutch esters plant; Pengerang secures US$3.5 bn financing from export credit agencies

Specialty chemicals innovator Perstorp, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysia’s Petronas Chemicals Group Berhad (PCG), announced that Perstorp Holding AB has acquired 100% of the shares of OQ Chemicals Nederland BV from OQ Chemicals GmbH.

Terms were not disclosed.

The deal provides Sweden-based Perstorp with full ownership and control over all of the Dutch company’s production assets, related technology and employees.

“With this acquisition of OQ Chemicals Nederland BV, we are further enabling our growth strategy and focus on the Specialty Chemicals sector as well as sustainable solutions,” said Ib Jensen, President/CEO of Perstorp.

In other news, Malaysian petrochemical project Pengerang Energy Complex (PEC), which is being developed by Singapore-based petrochemicals conglomerate ChemOne Group, has secured financing of US$3.5 billion from leading export credit agencies (ECAs) across the US, Western and Southern Europe and Asia, as well as Islamic financing from entities of the Islamic Development Bank.

Representatives of each of the five ECAs, namely the Export-Import Bank of the US, Euler Hermes AG, Italian Export Credit Agency (SACE), Compañía Española de Seguros de Crédito a la Exportación (CESCE), Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Berhad (EXIM Bank Malaysia) and IsDB were present in Kuala Lumpur to ratify the terms for the financing agreements with representatives from PEC.

The capital secured will be channelled towards implementation of the US$5.3 billion latest generation, low carbon petrochemical facility designed to produce 2.6 million tonnes/year of aromatic products and 3 million tonnes/year of associated energy products. The commencement of construction will start in mid-2025 and the project will go on stream in Q4, 2028.

Alwyn Bowden, CEO of PEC, commented: “As the petrochemicals industry is set to grow exponentially, alongside rapid economic development across East Asia and Southeast Asia, the PEC project is poised to form a key driver of demand for quality aromatics in the medium to long term. PEC is strategically located to serve the regional Asian markets and satisfy forecasted demand.”

Located within the Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex (PIPC) in Johor, PEC is set to be one of the largest and most competitive integrated condensate splitter and aromatics facilities in the world, says the firm.

It is being built using UOP Honeywell’s latest generation LD Parex technology which will effectively help the project reduce its energy consumption, maximise aromatics production, lower capital and energy costs as well as facilitate wider feedstock flexibility, allowing the PEC plant to become one of the most advanced, energy and carbon efficient facilities in its class.

Throughout the development of PEC, the project is expected to employ around 7,000 manpower during construction phase and during operations phase out 300 manpower 80% employees will be Malaysian. Local small-to-medium enterprises and companies are also set to benefit from approximately US$1.2 million worth of construction contracts in the areas of fabrication, erection, civil work, and bulk supplies.

With an annual export turnover of US$5 billion forecasted, PEC will play a crucial role in positioning PIPC as a regional oil and gas hub and propel Malaysia further up the value chain in the petrochemical sector.

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