Blog
23rd September 2020
Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd. (PCG) is a Malaysian chemical company founded in 1998. It offers a wide range of petrochemical products from olefins, polymers, fertilizers, methanol to other basic chemicals and derivative products. PCC SE, on the other hand, is an international chemical, logistics, and energy corporation, based in Duisburg, Germany. It has 80 subsidiaries in 41 sites spread across 18 countries, with production facilities in three continents, namely, Europe, Asia, and North America. The group’s parent company has a sole contender holding the shares, the chairman, Waldemar Preussner. The former has decided to acquire a 50% stake in the latter’s Malaysian unit, PCC-OM
PCC oxyalkylates Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. will be the new facility established by the Petronas Group and the PCC, combined. The facility will be built within the Kerith Integrated Petrochemical Complex, Terengannu, to produce ethoxylates and polyether polyols. The ever increasing demand for industrial & institutional cleaning products and surge in demand for non-ionic surfactants due to the COVID 19 pandemic going on is expected to lead to growth in the ethoxylates demand in the forecast period. Increasing raw materials availability supported by their large scale production is going to propel the ethoxylates market growth, with Ethylene oxide’s production capacity expected to cross 36 million tonnes by 2026.
The construction of the facility is planned to commence in 2021 while production is scheduled to begin from 2023. A joint research and development (R&D) center is to be set-up to ensure that the customers’ queries and requirements are fulfilled through high-level innovative solutions.
“This is another milestone for PCG (PetChem) in our quest to develop the group’s specialty chemicals business segment. We are pleased to be working with PCC SE, a global surfactant player, in our first foray into the specialty oxyalkylates market, as their experience, expertise and capabilities provide a strategic fit into our growth plans,” PetChem group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Sazali Hamzah continued “We will continue to explore investing in more technologies and assets that will further expand our high-value chemicals portfolio, thus future proofing our business.”
The chairman of the administrative board of PCC, Waldemar Preussner, said through this joint venture, the group is looking forward to boosting the expansion of PCC's core businesses of surfactants and polyols in the South-east Asian and Asian-Pacific regional markets. Polyols find use in the making of foam mattresses and have upholstery applications.
“The Kertih site is ideal due to raw materials availability and excellent infrastructure with direct seaport access, thus ensuring competitive production and logistics costs. This project enables us to leverage on the know-how we have gained from decades of oxyalkylates production in our facility and the new R&D centre for customers in Asia will create a pathway for expanding our product portfolio. In PCG we have found a strong strategic partner both for this investment and also for other potential collaborations in the chemical industry,” Waldemar said.
Being a global surfactant player, PCC SE, established PCC-OM in 2017 with the intention to extend business into the Asian region with the knowledge they have gained over decades in the development and production of surfactants and polyols. Meanwhile, Petchem is considering the rise in demand for these two chemicals in the region to be the key player in the decision it has taken.