Regional LNG: Petronas to boost Sarawak LNG plant capacity

Malaysian oil, gas firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) plans to expand the capacity of one of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in Sarawak by about 15%, Malaysia's The Star reported Wednesday.

Malaysia LNG senior general manager (commercial) Mohd Suhaimi Yasin said this would increase the plant?s capacity by 1.2 million tonnes a year by 2007.

Malaysia LNG Dua has three production lines or ?trains? with the ability to produce 7.8 million tonnes of LNG yearly.

?For this purpose, we plan to expand our existing trains instead of building a new one,? Suhaimi told reporters at the Asia Oil and Gas Conference in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday.

Petronas holds a 60% stake in the Malaysia LNG Dua venture, with Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Mitsubishi Corp as shareholders.

Petronas? three LNG plants in Sarawak have a total combined production capacity of 23 million tonnes per annum.

Meanwhile, US-based Energy Intelligence Group president Thomas E. Wallin said the emergence of a seller?s market in the global oil industry had increased the risk of price spikes and a lack of surplus capacity if war or revolution broke out.

?Major oil companies are facing serious challenges as resource nationalism in Venezuela and Russia as well as the strength of national oil companies like Petronas,? he added.

Wallin said despite the huge profits by major oil companies due to the high oil price, the challenge would be the limited access to large reserves.

?Competition from national oil companies will also undercut super major oil companies,? he added.(*)