Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd (HRC), formerly known as Shell Refining Company (Federation of Malaya) Bhd, held a ground-breaking ceremony today to mark the commencement of construction work that will enable the refinery to produce Euro4M grade motor gasoline.
The USD135 million (approximately RM580 million) refinery upgrade will involve the installation of an integrated complex that is designed to desulphurise the full range Cat Cracked Gasoline (CCG) produced by the Long Residue Catalytic Cracking Unit (LRCCU). This will facilitate the production of gasoline that meets the Euro4M specification, which requires sulfur content to be less than 50 parts per million in volume.
The groundbreaking ceremony was officiated by Datuk Seri Hamzah bin Zainudin, Minister of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives & Consumerism. Also present at the event were Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to Malaysia, Dr. Huang Huikang; Datuk Tun Hairudin Abu Bakar, Negeri Sembilan’s State Executive Councilor; Wang Youde, Chairman of HRC and Maarten Stals, Managing Director of HRC.
Wang said, “The successful commencement of this project puts Hengyuan Refining Company en-route to produce Euro4M. The Malaysian Government’s timeline to implement the Euro4M gasoline specifications for the RON 95 grade throughout the country is by 1 October 2018.”
“This upgrading will also include state-of-the-art technologies that have been tried-and-tested in refineries in Shandong, China. Upon completion, this upgrade will allow our Port Dickson refinery to produce up to 1.15 million tonnes of gasoline per annum,” Wang added.
The integrated complex will use a combination of conventional hydro-processing and selective liquid-liquid solvent extraction (“LLE”) technology which has been applied successfully by licensors in various operating plants in Shandong.
Additionally, the construction of the new complex will provide significant economic benefits as it creates up to 1,500 jobs at peak construction periods, thus providing employment opportunities for skilled and competent local workers.
“At Hengyuan, our priority is to care for the environment and community where we operate. Equally important is the health and safety of our employees and members within our fence-line communities, especially during the construction period. We have put in place a very stringent Health, Safety, Secirity and Environment (HSSE) policy to address this. We also have and will continue to engage and work very closely with relevant authorities, regulators and community members to ensure that the project is completed in a sustainable and progressive manner,” Wang concluded.
The upgrading works are expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2018.