KUALA LUMPUR: Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has appointed China-based Sinopec companies to build an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) warehouse for its petrochemical plants at the Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) in Johor.

It inked the agreement for the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the ASRS warehouse and the consortium of Sinopec Engineering (Group) Co Ltd, Sinopec Shanghai Engineering Co Ltd and Sinopec Engineering Group Malaysia Sdn Bhd on Wednesday.

In a statement, Petronas said the facility will be its first automated warehouse capable of meeting a 21-day storage inventory for polymer products in the PIC, namely polypropylene, linear low-density polyethylene and flexible polyethylene.

The contract also included other associated solid handling facilities for the ASRS warehouse, it said.

The Sinopec consortium received the letter of award from PRPC Utilities and Facilities Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Petronas Refinery and Petrochemical Corp Sdn Bhd, on Aug 1.

The project is expected to be completed within the next 27 months.

Petronas’ PIC, which is poised for start-up by early 2019, comprises the refinery and petrochemical integrated development (Rapid) project and six associated facilities.

Developed within a 6,242-acre (2,526ha) site in Pengerang, Johor, PIC forms part of Johor’s Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex. Rapid is estimated to cost US$16 billion (RM65.92 billion), while the associated facilities will involve an investment of about US$11 billion.

Petronas senior vice-president Dr Colin Wong Hee Huing commended the efforts by all parties in ensuring that the agreement was finalised within schedule.

“We have moved another step closer towards realising the development of [the] PIC, which is scheduled for successful start-up in the first quarter of 2019,” he said.