Teluk Ramunia set for the big time
New Straits Times(Nation)
30 December 2006

Johor Bahru: The state will transform the relatively undeveloped region on its east coast into a hub for the fabrication of offshore oil and gas-related structures.

Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said the area, which is open to the vast expanse of the South China Sea, was ideal for the building of world-class fabrication yards.

The area around Teluk Ramunia, at the southern tip of Johor, is strategically located cater to international petroleum companies investing heavily in deep sea oil and gas exploration.

The site, with its long and uninterrupted coastline, was also ideal for the building of oil floating production, storage and off-loading facilities.

“We see tremendous potential for the development of this region for heavy industries in the oil and gas sector. We want to transform this area into a hub for fabrication yards.”

The recent hike on oil prices has resulted in a surge in exploration activities in South East Asia and across the world, with Malaysia alone expected to develop at least 10 new deep-water fields off Sabah and Sarawak.

Malaysia pumps around 700,000 barrels of crude per day.

Ghani, who visited the Hyundai Heavy Industries fabrication yard in Ulsan, South Korea, early this year, is confident that Johor’s east coast could be developed to become a top-notch steel-fabrication facility.

Home-grown oil-services company, Ramunia Holdings Bhd, has already established a foothold there, with two distinct purpose-built steel fabrication facilities.

The country’s first jacket ever to be fabricated was constructed here for the Duyong Gas Development Project, a collaboration with Petronas Carigali. It was successfully completed in 1984.

Spread over 36.42ha in Teluk Ramunia, the company’s yard has the combined capacity to undertake steel fabrication of offshore platforms of up to 21,000 tonnes.

It has orders worth about RM650 million in mostly small offshore engineering and services jobs, but is now bidding for RM5.3 billion in new work, including a RM1.6 billion central-processing platform in the Gulf of Thailand, and fabrication of wellhead structures off India.

Company chairman Datuk Azizul Rahman had said earlier that it plans to bid for another RM12 billion in orders next year.

This would see Ramunia in competition with some of the top offshore rig-builders, such as Singapore’s Keppel Corp and Semb Corp Marine, and South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding.

Ghani said the demand for crude among developing Asian economies has also driven up regional trading, and stretched demand for oil storage facilities.

Johor’s east coast, he noted, was well placed to meet his demand.