Hot Stock Dialog falls 6.3% on Petronas RAPID delay

by **Cals** Wed 31 Jul 2013, 14:59

Hot Stock Dialog falls 6.3% on Petronas RAPID delay
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Kamarul Anwar of theedgemalaysia.com
Wednesday, 31 July 2013 14:45

KUALA LUMPUR (July 31): Dialog Group Bhd fell by as much as 19 sen or 6.33% in today’s morning session on news that state-owned oil firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) delaying the billion-dollar petrochemicals complex in Pengerang, Johor a year later to 2018.

At the mid-day break, the oil and gas services provider’s stock ceded 13 sen or 4.33% to settle at RM2.87. A total of 16.899 million shares were transacted.

Yesterday, Reuters reported a source familiar with Petronas’s business strategy said the Refinery and Petrochemicals Integrated Development (RAPID) project had been complicated by a need to secure water supplies as well as cater for proposed international partners.

According to the news wire, the project’s start-up date has now been delayed to 2018, after postponing it to early 2017 in June.

The final investment decision (FID) had also been delayed to the first quarter next year, citing government problems in relocating villages and graves from the 2,000 hectare site.

"As a result of the revised FID date, the RAPID refinery is scheduled to be ready for start-up in Q4 2017 and the remaining plants within the complex is scheduled to be commissioned in 2018," Petronas said in a statement to Reuters on Tuesday.

In AmResearch’s July 22 note on Dialog Group, analyst Alex Goh said the second phase of the company’s Pengerang Deepwater Petroleum Terminal, and liquefied gas terminal hinge on Petronas’s FID for RAPID.

“We expect the final approval to be made as Petronas has already awarded the contracts for site preparation to GADANG HOLDINGS BHD [] and other privately owned CONSTRUCTION [] companies since October 2012.

“We understand that Petronas has already opened invitation for tenders to design, engineer, procure and construct the huge project to multiple local and international service providers, as a gauge to assess the cost of development,” said AmResearch’s Goh in the note.