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Asian Petrochemical Companies Boosting Capacity To Cope With Population Growth


There could be a much greater demand for automatic tank gauging systems in Asia over the next few years, as petrochemical companies in the region are planning to boost their supply capacity.

They are doing this to cope with the continual growth of its populations and the subsequent demand on its petrochemicals.

At the 39th Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) 2018, it was disclosed that Asia (excluding China) will benefit from an increase in chemical capacity from 137 million tonnes to 153 million tonnes by 2023, IHS Markit revealed.

One country that is preparing for expansion is Malaysia, which will be taking the Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project online. This is set to boost production from 16.3 million tonnes to 23.1 million tonnes per year.

A further five petrochemical plants in south-east Asia are being planned to meet demand from the growing population in the region.

Tan Sri Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin, president and group chief executive officer of Petronas, said: “With the completion of our Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) by 2019 and RAPID complex, we are set to add a further 3.3 mtpa of commodity and differentiated petrochemical products into the market.”

The conference also revealed that petrochemical exports in the South East Asia (SEA) region could increase by 55 per cent before 2020, growing to 7.5 million tonnes. At the same time, imports will drop by 28 per cent over the next two years.

The APIC 2018 took place between August 20th and 21st at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Malaysia. It was organised by the Malaysian Petrochemicals Association and is the top networking event for the petrochemical sector in the region where experts can gain strategic insights and highlight the needs of the industry.