Malaysia’s PEC to finalise investment decision on Johor petchem complex

Malaysia’s Pengarang Energy Complex Sdn BHD (PEC) will make a final investment decision (FID) on its petrochemical project in Johor in the second half of the year, CEO Alwyn Bowden recently told ICIS News.

The project, which costs $4.5 billion, will have its FID when project financing is finalised. The equity portion is currently led by ChemOne Group and its strategic partners. ChemOne Group, which is a Singaporean petrochemical, green energy, and natural resources company, developed and arranged financing for Singapore’s Jurong Aromatics Complex, whose plant started up in 2014 and was eventually acquired by US energy giant ExxonMobil in 2017.

The PEC project will be capable of processing 150,000 bbl/day of condensate, which will, in turn, produce 2.3million mt/year of aromatics, 3.9 million mt/year of energy products and 50,000 million mt/year of hydrogen.

The project is expected to produce around 2 million mt//year of paraxylene (PX), which is used for polyester production.

Engineering works for the Pengerang Energy Complex (PEC) are currently underway, and the project is slated to be fully operational by late 2026.

The project was first announced in early 2020, but was delayed from its original start-up timeline of Q4 2022.

“The debt financing for the project launched into syndication in 2022, and the FID of the PEC is expected to conclude within this year as per financing terms and schedule agreed with leading Global Export Credit Agencies (ECAs), with export guarantee facilities close to $3bn to be available to support the project,” said Bowden.