Malaysia to boost oil storage business as new Pengerang, Johor terminal starts on Saturday

* Pengerang's $600 mln oil storage terminal to start operations on Sat
* To boost southern Malaysia's capacity by 70 pct
* First commercial crude storage to be ready by December

Jane Xie Reuters 11 Apr 14;

SINGAPORE, April 11 (Reuters) - Malaysia's biggest commercial oil storage facility will start operations on Saturday when it receives its first fuel shipment, expanding Southeast Asia's share in the oil storage business and also raising competition with neighbouring Singapore.

The $600 million oil storage terminal with a capacity of 1.28 million cubic meters at Pengerang in the southern Malaysian state of Johor will receive a clean oil product shipment on Saturday morning, Dialog Group Bhd, one of the owners of the terminal, confirmed to Reuters in an email.

Singapore is the 800-pound gorilla in the regional oil storage business, boasting a capacity of around 20 million cubic meters of storage space that is essential for oil trading activities. A scarcity of land, however, has stymied the city-state's growth of the business.

So Malaysia is cashing in on the opportunities provided by the rising quantities of crude oil and products passing through the region to meet the appetite of Asia's growing economies.

The Pengerang terminal, majority owned by a 51:49 joint venture of Dialog and Dutch oil and chemicals storage company Vopak, will boost southern Malaysia's oil storage capacity by nearly 70 percent to more than 3 million cubic metres when its first phase is completed by year-end.

It will also become then the first commercial oil terminal in the region to offer crude oil storage.

It was not immediately clear what fuel the shipment will bring on Saturday or what the quantities are and who's leasing the storage space.

Malaysia also has oil storage terminals at Tanjung Bin, Tanjung Langsat and Pasir Gudang.

Twenty-five storage tanks at Pengerang with a combined capacity of 432,000 cubic meters that can store clean oil products such as naphtha and diesel will be brought online at Saturday's commencement. Another 432,000 cubic meters is set to be commissioned by June and a further 420,000 cubic meters by December, an industry source familiar with the matter said.

When the first stage is completed, the project will offer 57 tanks and six berths. It will have capabilities to dock a very large crude carrier.

Two-thirds of the terminal's capacity will be designated to store clean products and the remaining for crude oil.

Subject to demand for more storage, there are also plans to expand Pengerang's storage capacity to up to 5 million cubic meters.

The storage terminal is one of several upcoming energy projects in Pengerang.

Malaysia's state oil firm Petronas will build a 300,000 barrels-per-day refinery and petrochemical integrated development which costs about $16 billion at Pengerang. The refinery is expected to start operations by early 2019.

And in November, Singapore-based oil trader Concord Energy said it had signed a pact with Dialog for a feasibility study to build another terminal there with a capacity of up to 2 million cubic meters. (Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Dialog starts ops in Pengerang
zazali musa The Star 14 Apr 14;

KOTA TINGGI: Dialog Bhd’s Pengerang Independent Terminals Sdn Bhd (PITSB) welcomed the first vessel carrying fuel for its petroleum and crude storage facility in Pengerang on Saturday, marking the start of its oil storage operations there.

MT Vinalise Glory, which arrived from the Middle East, became the first ship to dock at the terminal which offers crude oil storage facilities for trading purposes.

“This is a historic moment as we work towards the transformation of Pengerang into a regional oil and gas hub like what’s Rotterdam to Europe,’’ said Dialog Group Bhd executive chairman Dr Ngau Boon Keat at a briefing.

Dialog’s facility will raise competition in the crude oil storage business that is generally dominated by operators in Singapore currently.

Ngau, who is also PITSB chairman, said the company was confident that Phase One of Pengerang Terminal operated by PITSB would serve its purpose to meet the growing need for storage capacity of crude oil and petroleum products in the Asian region.

He said PITSB was currently in talks with two potential investors to develop additional terminals under Phase Two and Three of the independent terminal project.

“We have allocated about 80.93ha for Phase Two and Three of the development and the investment is likely to be more than what have been invested in Phase One,’’ he said.

Phase One covers 60.70ha of reclaimed seabed land, with initial storage capacity of about 1.3 million cu m, cost RM2bil. This is small compared to Singapore, which boast a capacity of 20 million cu m. However, a scarcity of land in Singapore has been a stumbling block for its expansion.

Dialog’s independent trading terminal and dedicated liquefied natural gas terminal has a total four storage tanks with a capacity of 160,000 cu m each and involved a total investment of RM4bil.

Upon completion, the deepwater petroleum terminal would be able to handle the storage, blending and distribution of crude oil and petroleum products. It is owned by PITSB, a joint venture between Dialog Group, Royal Vopak and State Secretary Johor Inc.

Phase 1A was completed last month and consists of 25 tanks with a total storage capacity of 432,000 cu m for clean petroleum products.

Vopak Asia division president Patrick van der Voort said the Pengerang independent oil terminal (Phase One) was one of Vopak’s most important projects in Asia, catering to the growing energy demand in the region.

“We have added Pengerang Terminal into our global network of 80 terminals across 29 countries and are looking forward to serving our customers at the new terminal,’’ he said.

Pengerang Terminal Project Progressing Well, Says Dialog
Bernama 14 Apr 14;

KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 (Bernama) -- Dialog Group Bhd's Pengerang Terminal, an Entry Point Project under the Economic Transformation Programme, is progressing well with its initial phase expected to be completed by year-end.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia Monday, Dialog said phase 1 A has been successfully completed and has commence operations.

"The terminal welcomed the first vessel carrying fuel for its petroleum and crude storage facility in Pengerang on Saturday, marking the start of its oil storage operations there," it said.

Dialog said phase 1's development covered 60 hectares of reclaimed sea-bed land with initial storage capacity of approximately 1.3 million cubic metres with six berths at a cost of RM2 billion.

The company said Phase 1 was being undertaken by its joint-venture company, Pengerang Independent Terminals Sdn Bhd (PITSB).

"The entire development may take another 10-15 years to be fully completed and will create huge impact to local communities through creation of many economic activities as it will also complement the RAPID project that was recently confirmed by Petronas," it said.

-- BERNAMA