Malaysia's Petronas buys remaining stake in refining firm for US$635m

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) on Wednesday said it plans to buy all shares it does not already own in Malaysian Refining Company (MRC) for US$635 million.

The state-owned oil and gas firm said in a statement that it will purchase 47 per cent of MRC from Phillips 66 Asia Ltd, a subsidiary of US energy company Phillips 66. The transaction is likely to be completed on Dec 31, it said.

The acquisition "will enable us to realise greater synergy between our refineries in Melaka and it will also strengthen our presence in the refining and trading businesses," said Chief Operating Officer Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin.

MRC processes and refines crude oil in the southwestern state of Malacca, or Melaka, and has a refining capacity of 170,000 barrels per day. "This divestiture allows us to redeploy resources to more strategic areas of our business," Larry Ziemba, executive vice president of refining for Phillips 66, said in the same statement.

REUTERS