KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 20): KPRJ Petroleum Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Johor’s state investment arm Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor (KPRJ), has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SIRIM Bhd for the development of a petroleum one-stop centre in Pengerang, Johor.

Under the MoU, SIRIM will collaborate with KPRJ Petroleum in the field of maintenance, repair and overhaul, components and machinery as well as calibration services through the one-stop centre.

Besides that, SIRIM will also be involved in the research and development activities in Pengerang, while providing machining and foundry facilities for petroleum product components in Rasa, Selangor.

The one-stop centre will be supporting Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas)’s  RM60 billion Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development in Pengerang, said KPRJ Petroleum chief executive officer Zulkifli Abd Rani.

“The centre is independent of the RAPID project, but we have communicated with Petronas to find out what kind of services are required so that there will be no conflict between the one-stop centre and RAPID,” he said.

Zulkifli added that the project will be located next to the RAPID development and should be completed by end-2018. He said works for the centre has already commenced last year and that the project is now in the design and development stage.

While he declined to reveal the total cost of the development, Zulkifli said the one-stop centre will require a relatively big investment.

Besides that, Zulkifli said the signing of the agreement is also an initiative to bridge the gap between the oil and gas (O&G) industry and the research institute.

“This relationship is very important in ensuring the sustainability of the O&G industry, especially since we are facing the current critical low oil price situation,” he said.

President and chief executive of SIRIM Datuk Zainal Abidin Mohd Yusof said the current low oil price environment is not expected to be a long-term issue.

“Oil prices could stabilise in the coming months,” he said.