PETRONAS Gas Berhad (PGB) celebrates its 29^th birthday this year. The year 2012 will truly be the defining year for PGB due to the completion of the LNG Regasification Facilities project in Melaka – the most ambitious venture ever undertaken by the Company in its close to three decades of existence. It is a venture which is timely and crucial to ensure that the nation’s current energy supply challenges are addressed efficiently. 

The regasification facilities in Melaka, alongside other new ventures of PGB which are also on-going – power production via Kimanis Power in Sabah; open access gas transmission via the Third Party Access (TPA) system; and also a mega project management assignment via the Sabah-Sarawak Gas Pipeline (SSGP) project; signify the dawn of a new era for PGB, the era of growth which sees the Company metamorphosing itself by reimagining the way it does business. 

Gas processing and gas transmission remains the core and flagship business of PGB. The process begins at its six gas processing plants located in Kertih and Paka, operated by the Company’s Plant Operations Division (POD). Natural gas from the offshore fields of Terengganu is processed there before being piped into PGB’s Peninsular Gas Utilisation (PGU) pipeline network which is operated by the Transmission Operations Division (TOD). 

TOD is responsible for the transmission and delivery of sales gas to customers in the power, industrial and commercial sectors throughout Peninsular and East Malaysia. 

In 1998, the Company expanded and diversified the business into manufacturing, supplying and marketing of industrial utility products to customers in Kertih Integrated Petrochemical Complex in Terengganu and Gebeng Industrial Area in Pahang through its Centralised Utility Facilities Division (CUF). 

PGB’s technical credentials were taken to new levels when the Company, given a proven and tested track record in gas transmission operations, was appointed by PETRONAS Carigali Sdn. Bhd. to provide project management and execution services for the Sabah-Sarawak Gas Pipeline Project. 

The Company’s expertise in the production operations of industrial utilities which included power generation provided access to the independent power production sector. In 2009, PGB’s business further evolved to include the generation of electricity with the formation of Kimanis Power Sdn. Bhd., a joint venture company with Yayasan Sabah. The entity was set up to develop a 300 megawatt gas power plant in Kimanis to meet the growing demand for electricity in the state of Sabah. The power plant will commence operations in 2013. 

Against this backdrop of strengthened and integrated fabrication of technical expertise and business savoir-fare in its existing and new ventures, the Company’s opportunity to reinvent itself emerged through the need to support the national gas supply chain. Reimagining the energy to solve the upstream gas supply issue served as a catalyst for the Company to break out of its comfort zone as it entered into an agreement with PETRONAS to construct the country’s first ever LNG Regasification Facilities in Sungai Udang, Melaka. The project, undertaken by the Company’s Regasification Terminal Division (RGTD), is expected to serve the customers come September 2012. The facilities would be a key gateway for the entry of gas sourced worldwide, which would provide the much needed energy boost for Malaysia’s growth aspiration. The facilities also significantly support the Company’s TPA system initiative where the PGU pipeline will be opened for external gas shippers other than PETRONAS to bring in gas molecules from readily available sources. 

The possibilities are now limitless for PGB as it soars its wings towards the growth it so aspires. With the new businesses on the verge of materialisation, PGB is sending out an open invitation to the world to embrace what we are about to offer…