Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development project, also known as RAPID project, is being developed in  Pengerang, Johor, Malaysia, as part of the $27bn Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC), which also includes six other associated facilities.

Malaysian national oil company Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) is developing the project, which will have a capacity of 300,000 barrels of crude a day.

Construction on the RAPID project commenced in 2014 and operations are expected to be officially commenced by 2019. RAPID complex aims to produce 7.7 million tonnes a year of various petrochemical products.

RAPID project location

The RAPID project is being built in the 22,000-acre PIC site, which is advantageous in terms of the open access to major shipping lanes nearby.

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The PIC complex comprises an LNG regasification terminal, air separation unit, deepwater terminal, a 1.22GW co-generation plant, and raw water supply facilities.

The location also provides easy access to Asian petrochemical markets and trading centres. Further, the site is surrounded by sufficient land for future development of exchange ports and transmission points.

"The RAPID project is being built in the 22,000-acre PIC site."

Petronas RAPID refinery details

The RAPID project includes a petrochemical refinery, an isononanol plant, a steam cracker, three sulphur recovery units, a liquid sulphur storage unit, and a sulphur solidification unit.

The steam cracker will have a combined annual capacity of three million tonnes (Mt) of ethylene, propylene and C4-C6 olefins products. Two amine generation plants, two sour water stripping units, hydrotreating units, catalytic reforming unit, hydrogen production units and saturated gas plant are also being developed as part of the project.

Further, the refinery will include a crude distillation unit with a capacity of 15 million tons per annum (Mtpa), an atmospheric residue desulphurisation unit with a capacity of 8.8Mtpa, a hydrogen collection unit, a fuel oil unit and a tank farm.

The project will provide the naphtha and liquid petroleum gas feedstock required for the petrochemical facilities of the complex. It will also produce Euro IV standard gasoline and diesel fuel products.

Construction of the refinery was 96.54% complete as of May 2018, while the petrochemicals section was 84.8% complete.

Contractors involved in the RAPID project

PETRONAS contracted INEOS Technologies to supply its Innovene G gas phase fluidised bed process for the project in November 2012, while Jacobs Engineering Group was awarded the contract to develop engineering packages for three sulphur recovery units of the project.

Petrofac, SINOPEC and Técnicas Reunidas were awarded the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contracts for various components of the refinery, while Technip in a joint venture with Fluor was awarded the EPCC contract for the utilities and facilities.

Toyo Engineering Corporation won the contract for the steam cracker complex. The company awarded a $200m subcontract to McDermott for the engineering and supply of ethylene heaters.

A joint venture of See Young and Son Construction, and McConnell Dowell was awarded the EPCC contract for the solid product jetty of the project.

Some other contractors involved in the project include WABAG-MUHIBBAH JV, Alexander Global Logistics, Axens Technologies, ATB Riva Calzoni, TE Instruments, Mammoet, Samsung Engineering, Yokogawa Kontrol, KNM Group, Evonik Industries, and Fluenta.

Also involved are Junttan Oy, Punj Lloyd Group, CTS, LyondellBasell, DHI Malaysia, Zelan Construction, Zhonghe Huaxing Development, Jeks Engineering, and Industrial Cooling Solutions.