KUALA LUMPUR: Asia Bioenergy Technologies Bhd is venturing further into the oil and gas (O&G) sector with plans to set up an integrated one-stop chemical blending hub and centralised common user warehouse in Bintulu, Sarawak.
“The integrated centre will fully support oilfield chemical service providers like Baker Hughes, Halliburton Company and Schlumberger Oilfield Services as well as users in Sabah and Sarawak,” said Asia Bioenergy executive director Steve Tan.
“This will be a full-fledged O&G industry-compliant chemical blending and warehousing facility, the first in Sabah and Sarawak,” he added.
The centre will be set up through subsidiary AsiaBio Petroleum Sdn Bhd (ABP), in collaboration with ACME Chemicals (M) Sdn Bhd, a specialty chemical company with in-house expertise and formulation capabilities, and Sejahtera Bumisama Sdn Bhd.
The latter is a Sabah-based, Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas)-registered company licensed to supply products and services to exploration and O&G companies in Malaysia.
Asia Bioenergy will manage and operate the facilities, as well as offer and promote blending services, decanting and warehousing services, custom-formulated chemical products and additives, and common chemicals and solvents to O&G contractors and operators in Sabah and Sarawak that would otherwise be sourced from Singapore.
“We will also support chemical sourcing, blending and warehousing services to upstream service providers.
“In Malaysia, the market for the production chemical category alone is worth RM110 million to RM130 million a year,” said Tan.
ABP operations head David Chuah said the partnership with ACME and Sejahtera Bumisama combined the specialised capabilities of each party.
In time, this will allow ABP to expand its business and product offerings in the O&G segment.
The venture is expected to be licence-based, with profit-sharing ratios to be mutually agreed upon.
“This one-stop chemical blending and warehousing facility in Bintulu targets the under-served market in Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei.
“This initiative is aimed at curbing rising costs faced by the O&G industry by acting as a hub-and-spoke point for all chemical contractors, providing cost-competitive logistics in line with the objectives of Petronas’s Coral Reduction Alliance programme,” said Chuah.
He added that Bintulu had the necessary infrastructure and ancillary services to support the venture.
“We are positive this will bring economic and social benefits to Bintulu, which has been designated as the new supply base operation for Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd’s Sarawak O&G assets.”
The integrated centre is set to reduce operating expenditure by eliminating double-handling in operational activities, optimise use of resources, reduce procurement and contracting costs and eliminate capital expenditure on chemical contracts issued by Petronas and its production sharing contractors.