Petroliam Nasional Berhad’s (Petronas) Petronas Mobility Lestari Sdn. Bhd. (PMLSB) alongside partners Eni SPA’s Enilive SPA and Euglena Co. Ltd. of Japan have let a contract to a subsidiary of Maire SPA’s Rome-based NextChem SPA for delivery of a new hydrogen production unit (HPU) to be installed at the joint venture’s (JV) planned grassroots biorefinery to be built in the Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) at Johor in southern Peninsular Malaysia.
As part of the contract, NextChem’s KT-Kinetics Technology SPA (KT Tech) will provide engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning (EPCC) services, as well as licensing of NextChem’s proprietary NX Reform technology, for an HPU equipped to produce 38,000 cu m/hr of hydrogen for the biorefinery’s conversion processes.
Implementation of NX Reform technology in the HPU will enable the operator to produce low-carbon hydrogen while simultaneously reducing site emissions and maximizing recovery rates to support the JV’s goals of advancing the global transition to low-carbon fuels, the service provider said.
Maire valued the EPCC and technology licensing order at about USD 125M.
This latest contract for the project follows the JV’s late-2024 preliminary letter of award (LOA) to Samsung E&A Co. Ltd. to serve as the main EPCC contractor on the proposed biorefinery that —scheduled for construction within Petronas’ existing 300,000-b/d Johor integrated conventional refinery and petrochemical complex in PIC—will be flexibly configured to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO, or renewable diesel), and bionaphtha to meet rising demand for reduced-carbon fuels from global aviation and transportation customers.
