Malaysia to build biofuel plant worth over $1.26bn

South Korea’s Samsung E&A said Thursday it has been awarded a contract to build a refinery in Malaysia that will produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other biofuels.

The contract, worth $955 million, was signed by Italian oil giant Eni Group on behalf of a joint venture between Malaysia’s Petronas and Japan’s Euglena Co Ltd. The contract is expected to be signed by the end of January 2025.

No completion date has been set for the Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning (EPCC) contract, but Euglena has previously said that the biorefinery is expected to be operational in the second half of 2028.

The EPCC contract follows a final investment decision by Petronas and its partners to develop the project, which is valued at more than $1.26 billion.Petronas and Eni will each hold a 47.5% stake in the joint venture, while Euglena will start with a 5% stake, with an option to increase its stake to 15%.

The biorefinery will be located in the Bianjaran Integrated Park in Johor and, when completed, will process about 650,000 tons of raw materials per year for the production of SAF, hydrogenated vegetable oil and bio-naphtha.

Planned feedstocks will include waste vegetable oils, animal fats, waste from vegetable oil processing and other biomass including microalgae oils to be explored in the medium term.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)