Malaysia-headquartered Petronas Chemicals Group (PCG) is divesting all its interest in its Vietnamese PVC plant to Asahi Glass and Mitsubishi Corporation. PCG holds a 93.11% interest in Phu My Plastics, which has a production capacity of 100,000 tonnes/year of PVC. The divestment is part of PCG’s plan to discontinue its vinyl business as announced last year, in line with its portfolio optimisation strategy. The divestment is expected to be completed by Q2 2014, subject to conditions in the agreement being met.

PCG is part of the state-owned petrochemicals giant Petronas, which is said to be close to selling a stake in its Canadian shale gas assets to an Indian company as it looks at defraying some of the costs of bringing cheap liquefied natural gas from the US to energy-hungry Asia, said a Reuters report. The company aims to spend US$35 billion to exploit shale gas assets in north-east British Colombia, acquired through its US$5 billion takeover of Canadian player Progress Energy Resources last year, and is also building a liquefied natural gas export terminal to supply Asian markets.

The Malaysian firm has already sold a 10% stake in the integrated shale gas development and LNG project to Japan Petroleum Exploration. Petronas also reported a 16% increase in third-quarter profit on increased sales. Net income rose to US$4.5 billion in the three months through September and revenue climbed 19%, buoyed by a resumption in South Sudan production and higher output in Malaysia and Canada.