“We have appointed South Korea’s SK Group, which owns one of the world’s largest oil refineries and the third largest industrial group in South Korea, to do the engineering and construction of the project and the maintenance of the refinery,” said executive chairman Md Nazri Ramli.
“Under the project, Merapoh Resources will import crude oil from the Middle East, most probably from Saudi Arabia, process the crude into refined products and export them to China and other Asian nations,” Ramli said.
“Hong Kong Beijing Star Ltd and Winston Investment Ltd will each invest $5 billion and have 40% stake in this project. We will hold the remaining 20%,” he said.
When completed, the refinery can produce 350,000 barrels per day.
The two investors will find purchasers for 150,000 barrels a day of the refinery’s production. China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) will purchase the rest 200,000 barrels a day for 20 years.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg quoted Hong Kong Beijing Star President Li Feng Yi as saying the company would like to sell its stake to CNPC once the refinery was finished.
Merapoh Resources is planning to launch the project in August 2009. The plant comprises of 850 acres of reclaimed land and another 100 acres on the mainland.
The company will award 30% of the project’s contracts to local contractors, in fulfillment with government regulation.
The refinery will employ 500 engineers and professionals and 1,000 other employees when it starts construction.
