Pepperl+Fuchs to protect mega Petronas plant

Pepperl+Fuchs has just announced that it has been chosen by Petronas to be the sole supplier of safety barriers and surge arrestors for its new methanol plant in Labuan, East Malaysia.

Partnering with one of the world’s leading DCS vendors, Pepperl+Fuchs will integrate Transformer Isolated Barriers and Snap-on Surge Protectors into the Control and Safety Systems. Petronas is building the methanol plant alongside an existing plant using the Lurgi Mega Methanol Technology. This is the first snap-on surge project supplied in the Asia-Pacific region, says P+F.

For what will be the sixth largest plant of its type in the world, Petronas expects to produce 1.7 million tons of methanol per year, which is triple the existing plant’s current capacity of 666,000 tons per year. The plant will operate from natural gas supplied from gas fields off the coast of Sabah in East Malaysia, and is scheduled to commence operations by the end of 2007.