Benelec, Rotary Engr in deepsea storage pact

Benalec Holdings Bhd and Singapore-listed company Rotary Engineering Ltd today jointly announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop an independent deepwater storage
terminal for oil products in Tanjung Piai.

Strategically located at the south-western tip of Johor, Tanjung Piai offers
easy access to international shipping routes in the Straits of Malacca and
Singapore's Jurong Island, an international petroleum, petrochemicals and
terminal hub.

Benalec managing director Vincent Leaw said: "We are delighted to have
Rotary Engineering on board with us in our maiden foray into the high-growth oil and gas and petrochemicals industry.

"Tanjung Piai is very well positioned to complement the region's growth in
the oil and gas industry, and to tap into the growing demand for the storage and distribution of petroleum and petrochemical products in Asia," he said when commenting on the MoU.

Meanwhile, Rotary Engineering chairman and managing director Roger Chia Kim Piow said: "We are excited to provide more value added services to our clients through this strategic partnership with Benalec."

He said with Tanjung Piai’s close proximity to Jurong Island, "we see much
synergy between Singapore and Johor in further developing this area into an even larger international petroleum hub."

With an initial capacity of 1 million cubic metres (cbm), with subsequent
phases to increase capacity to 3 million cbm on the total reclaimed land area of
101.25ha, the proposed terminal will be a petroleum storage facility for
storing, blending and distributing crude oil and its derivatives.

The integrated storage facility will be completed with deepwater jetty
facilities capable of handling very large crude carriers (VLCCs).

The two companies will jointly embark on a technical feasibility study, after
which they will form a joint venture company by taking equity ownership and
developing the first 1 million cbm oil storage terminal as well as other
terminal projects.

In addition, the joint venture company will exclusively undertake the
promotion of Tanjung Piai as an oil and petrochemicals terminal hub. -- Bernama