A devastating fire broke out on Apr. 12th at the jointly held Saudi Aramco-Petronas $27-28 billion Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) in southeastern Johor, Malaysia (OGJ Online, Mar. 29, 2018).
The fire occurred about 1:25 a.m. local time at the atmospheric residue desulfurization unit, which is currently in its commissioning phase, Petronas said. The situation was brought under control, and there were no health-related risks as a result of the incident.
While no fatalities have been reported following the blaze, one employee sustained scratches but had already been discharged following medical attention, the company said.
Petronas said teams were set up abd were working with relevant authorities to investigate the cause of the fire. Further details regarding damage to the site or the incident’s impact to project commissioning activities were not disclosed.
Earlier in the year, project contractor Petrofac Ltd. said Pengerang Refining & Petrochemical (PRefChem) subsidiary Pengerang Refining Co. Sdn. Bhd. was nearing official startup of its 300,000-b/d refinery and petrochemical integrated development (RAPID) project at PIC (OGJ Online, Jan. 4, 2019).
Situated on part of the Malaysian government’s 22,000-acre Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex 400 km south of Kuala Lumpur, the RAPID refinery, once in operation, will produce a range of refined products, including gasoline and diesel, that meet Euro 5-quality fuel specifications to help Asia Pacific’s growing need for petroleum and petrochemical products, as well as naphtha-LPG feedstock for its 3.3 million-tpy integrated cracker and downstream petrochemical complex (OGJ Online, Sept. 26, 2018; Sept. 20, 2016).
PRefChem is an alliance of Petronas and Aramco that includes the two joint ventures Pengerang Refining and Pengerang Petrochemical Co. Sdn. Bhd.