BP is likely to offload specialist chemical operations in Malaysia to its local opperator.
Reliance Global Holdings is set to buy BP’s share of its purified terephthalic acid (PTA) production in Malaysia for $230 million in cash. The sale will bring the oil major even closer to its stated $38 billion divestment target by the end of 2013.
The companies are likely to completed the deal by the end of this year, with staff expected to transfer under the same terms and conditions. The sale will not affect BP’s acetic acid manufacturing and marketing business in Malaysia where it has had a presence since the 1960s.
“Reliance is a natural owner of this plant”, says BP's Head of Aromatics Asia, James Yim. “This is an efficient plant with a good market position in the region. RECRON Malaysia, part of the Reliance Group, is already our largest customer in Malaysia and Reliance Industries is a significant feedstock supplier at Kuantan.”
Despite the sale BP is continuing with considerable PTA expansion in China. According to the company it has around one fifth of the total global PTA production capacity and states that it will continue to exploit the PTA market in high-growth markets such as China and the OECD countries.