A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Senari Synergy Sdn Bhd and NextBT Group LLC for the proposed development of a GreenCrude refining plant in Senari, Sarawak on 18th May 2016.
The ceremony was witnessed by Yang Berhormat Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan State Secretary, Second Minister of Resource Planning and Environment and also Minister of Industrial and Entreprenuer Development Investment.
Datu Hj. Misnu Hj Taha, Deputy State Secretary who is also the Chairman of Senari Synergy Sdn Bhd in his opening remark thanked Yang Berhormat Datuk Amar to witness the MOU. He also congratulated Senari Synergy under the new management team and Nextbt Group for coming to an agreement to explore the collaboration for such an innovative development of a combined Pyrolysis and GreenCrude plant.
The Chairman said that the proposed pyrolysis plant will have a production capacity of 132,000 metric tonnes of feedstock per year while the GreenCrude upgrader can process 92,000 metric tonnes of pyrolysis oil per year. The plant will have raw feedstock storage facilities, product storage tanks, a production area, a support utilities area, an administrative and laboratory area. The total investment for both plants is estimated to cost about RM380 million that will be developed on an area of approximately about 30 acres of land at the Senari Synergy Industrial Complex, Jalan Bako, Kuching.
“The proposed investment will help to generate employment, promote knowledge and technical know-how in the State. And not to mention the huge business opportunities it bring to small medium enterprise and small medium industry in Sarawak” said Datu Misnu.
Yang Berhormat Datuk Awang Tengah, witness to the MOU, said that the proposed development will be the first GreenCrude Refining Plant in Asia. He congratulated Senari Synergy Sdn Bhd for being able to seize the opportunity to use the biomass materials from forest plantations and also from the empty fruit bunches (EFB) as another milestone in their strategic and sustainable growth in tandem with the Sarawak Biomass Industry Development Plan.
He said that “The technology promotes the efficiency in the waste management of biomass from the palm oil and timber industries whereby the biomass will be used as the inputs for the pyrolysis plant. The pyrolysis oil will then be further refined to produce the GreenCrude product. GreenCrude is an advanced biofuel feedstock and when blended with other petroleum products will command a premium in the advanced biofuels market”. He added that the innovation of modern technology in the renewable energy industry proves that waste products if efficiently managed will be able to produce value added products as part of the eco system to reduce the carbon emissions into the environment.
The technology offers the chance to have better environmental impact that is aimed at the use of non-food feedstock. The investment is in line with the global trends towards reducing the dependency on fossil fuels and reducing the global greenhouse emissions in the transportation sector. This also signifies the increasing importance in the use of advanced biofuels to replace the existing fossil based fuel energy by many countries in the world.
According to him the investment is expected to generate approximately 600 jobs during the construction period and 100 jobs when fully operational. The investment will provide the spin off effect to the Senari Synergy existing oil gas and chemicals jetty where it will benefit through increase throughput volume and tariff.
He hoped that the eco system in the production of the GreenCrude from securing the supplies until export of the final product will be able to create and nurture a pool of technological, logistical and trading personnel with expertise in the production and global distribution of a renewable fuel.
About Senari Synergy Sdn Bhd
An investment holding company that is responsible to provide the facilities to integrate the oil, gas, and petro-chemicals related business in the State of Sarawak. The existing facilities are at the Senari Synergy Industrial Complex comprising of an Oil, Gas & Chemicals Jetty, Oil Distribution Terminal and Palm Oil Refinery to cater for the Southern Region supplies while another Oil Distribution Terminal is located in Tanjung Manis to cater for the Central Region supplies.