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The new facility will be the first of its kind in South East Asia
21/07/2015
Petronas and BASF plan HR-PIB at Kuantan
First of kind plant will further diversify Petronas
Adam Duckett
PETRONAS and BASF will build a world-scale production plant for highly-reactive polyisobutene (HR-PIB) at their joint venture site in Kuantan, Malaysia.
The plant will be the first of its kind in South East Asia with a production capacity of 50,000 t/y, and is scheduled to begin operations in Q4 2017.
HR-PIB is an intermediate chemical used in the manufacture of high performance fuel and lubricant additives, including additives used for sludge prevention.
The plant will increase security of supply for the Asian market and strengthen the company’s position as leading supplier of the HR-PIB, Christian Fischer, president of BASF’s performance chemicals division, said in a joint statement.
Petronas Chemicals CEO Datuk Sazali Hamzah added: “The investment marks another significant milestone in the development of the Kuantan site as a leading specialty chemicals hub in the Asia Pacific region, in line with [the company’s] strategy to diversify into specialty chemicals and solutions.”
BASF currently produces HR-PIB at plants in Ludwigshafen, Germany, Antwerp, Belgium, and at a joint venture site with Sinopec in Nanjing, China.
Petronas and BASF have been in partnership since 1997 and jointly operate the integrated chemicals complex in Kuantan. Two further expansion projects are underway at the site building plants for the production of chemicals for the flavour and fragrance industries and 2-ethylhexanoic acid (2-EHA) for synthetic lubricants and oil additives.
