Petronas plans to upgrade Kerteh refinery by 2022

[SINGAPORE] Malaysia's state-owned Petronas plans to upgrade its refinery in Kerteh, Terengganu, by 2022 to produce higher quality fuels and expand the crude types it processes beyond Tapis, a company executive said.

Production of light sweet Tapis crude, once Malaysia's flagship grade, is declining, so the Kerteh refinery is looking to switch to other grades such as medium-sweet Kimanis, Petronas Penapisan (Terengganu) Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Zabidi Ahmad said at a Platts conference this week.

"We're also looking at processing different condensate, probably (Australia's) North West Shelf or (Iran's) South Pars or Qatar's DFC (deodorized field condensate)," he said.

The Kerteh upgrade, which could be completed by 2022, will allow the refinery to produce fuels that meet Euro V standard specifications, although the refinery's capacity will remain unchanged, he said.

The refinery's primary units are a crude distillation unit and a condensate splitter.

REUTERS