MPA: Petrochemical industry to grow 5-6 pct annually
21 Jul 2022
The petrochemical industry is expected to grow by about 5.0 to 6.0 per cent annually despite ongoing troubles such as the Russia-Ukraine war, said the Malaysian Petrochemicals Association (MPA).
President Akhbar Md Thayoob said the war posed a double-edged sword for the industry, disrupting trade flow while also creating urgency for certain geographical areas to ramp up production to replace the volume taken out from the system.
“The petrochemical industry is constantly growing above the rate of the economy.
“Some industry segments will be growing much faster than the others but overall, it is an important growth engine for the country,” he said during a press conference to announce two oil, gas and petrochemicals conferences here today.
Akhbar noted that Malaysia is well positioned to reap the benefits of the ongoing crisis but has a role in easing the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict by strengthening the petroleum, petrochemicals and palm oil industries.
He pointed out that the petrochemicals industry was in stabilising mode post-Covid-19.
“There are still uncertainties moving forward, the current cycle would not be the same as before.
“We will have blips in between (crises) which can really alter the next cycle,” he explained.
On energy transition, he said most petrochemicals players were drafting their own framework towards becoming a net zero carbon emission industry.
“There are some low-hanging fruits that we can do immediately such as designing new assets from the right footing as all new investments would need to be net zero.
“We are still at the drawing board but I am sure in the next few years, most organisations will have a blueprint to guide them,” said Akhbar.
MPA, Malaysian Oil, Gas and Energy Services, and Informa Markets Malaysia are jointly organising the Oil and Gas Asia, the Malaysia Oil and Gas Services Exhibition and Conference, as well as the inaugural Petrochemicals Sustainability Conference 2022 from September 13-15, 2022.
The merged event is expected to attract at least 500 represented companies and 20,000 trade visitors, including 1,000 delegates from both conferences.
Source: Bernama
