Hengyi Industries has signed the Pulau Muara Besar Phase 2 Development Project Implementation Agreement with the Petroleum Authority of Brunei Darussalam and the Brunei Economic Development Board.

The Hengyi PMB refinery and petrochemical project involves the development of an integrated refinery and petrochemical complex, which is being developed in two phases by Hengyi Industries.

The complex will rise from a 276-hectare site at Pulau Muara Besar, a 955-hectare industrial park on the Muara Besar Island at the Brunei Bay, near Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei.

Hengyi Industries is a joint venture between China’s Zhejiang Hengyi Group (70%) and Damai Holdings (30%), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brunei government's Strategic Development Capital Fund.

Phase 1 involved an investment of about US$3.45 billion and began operations in November 2019 with a crude oil refining capacity of 175,000 barrels a day.

The Phase 2 complex is considered an important project contributing towards the development of the sultanate’s downstream oil and gas sector.

The project will include processing facilities such as an ethylene cracker with a capacity of 1.65 million metric tonnes per annum, a 2.5-2.2 mtpa purified terephthalic acid/polyethylene terephthalate plant, as well as three new jetties.

The project will increase the overall complex’s capacity for refining crude to 11 mtpa. It will also enable the complex to produce more types of refined petroleum products such as ethylene, polyethylene, butadiene, and polypropylene. These products will serve as vital raw materials for downstream industries, spanning from textiles to agriculture and automobile to electronics manufacturing.