KUALA LUMPUR: Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) is reportedly set to make a final investment decision in December that would see it bringing Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco) on board as its partner for its US$21 billion (RM87.78 billion) refining and petrochemicals project in Johor, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Citing two people familiar with the matter, the newspaper wrote yesterday that Petronas will be offering Saudi Aramco a 50% stake in the project, with the two companies likely to set up a joint-venture (JV) company in the first quarter of next year to run it.

In June, The Edge weekly reported that Petronas and Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest crude oil exporter, had firmed up an agreement earlier this year to facilitate the development of a refinery and a steam cracker complex — the backbone of its Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (Rapid) project in Johor.

Petronas Refinery and Petrochemical Corp Sdn Bhd was expected to partner with a Saudi Aramco unit for the refinery job, while another Saudi Aramco unit could tie up with a Petronas unit for the development of the steam cracker complex.

In September, another news report said the two oil companies were negotiating for a US$7.5 billion syndicated loan, along with a larger bond issuance later, to finance the project.

The first phase of Rapid is slated to be completed sometime in mid-2019.