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The Star Online- M'sian firm in graphene race

AN announcement by a Malaysian owned company in London on Monday went largely unnoticed in Malaysia but not by the UK press.

Appearing in mainstream newpapers in the UK, the news surrounds AIM-listed Graphene NanoChem plc’s Malaysian subsidiary Platinum NanoChem Sdn Bhd entering into a joint venture with Scomi Oiltools Sdn Bhd, a unit of Scomi Energy Services Bhd, early this week to provide graphene-enhanced speciality chemicals.

The significance of that news meant that the race to commercialise graphene in the oil and gas industry was well underway with Scomi now ready to deliver a new generation of “smart fluids.”

The deal saw Graphene NanoChem enter into a licensing agreement and a 50:50 joint venture for the production of a range of speciality chemicals, including graphene-enhanced drilling fluids and additives, along with base chemicals using nanotechnology.

The JV will see the construction of a 45,000 tonne per annum chemical plant and a 30,000 tonne per annum graphene nanomaterial plant to be completed by the start of 2016.

What it all boils down to is the use of graphene nanomaterials in a commercial application and that is said to be a game changer in the industry and a global innovation led by a Malaysian company.

The material is described as being far stronger than diamond, more conductive than copper, light as a feather and flexible as rubber is now at the heart of a worldwide contest to exploit its properties and accelerate commercial deployment. Paired with a base material such as drilling fuilds, graphene is designed to improve on the properties of the drilling fluid and other chemicals.

“The joint venture between Scomi and Platinum will enable Scomi to serve its current customers as well as participate in opportunities in the existing market, which needs today are met by players using traditional technologies,” says company president, market units for Scomi oilfields services division, Wan Ruzlan in a statement.

“The venture will benefit from Platinum’s state of the art manufacturing process in producing graphene enhanced solutions, allowing Scomi its own vital supply chain access to chemicals in formulating solutions for its oil and gas customers.”

In the first phase, the JV will produce a suite of drilling fluids and production chemicals with the goal of expanding over time into Scomi’s other core products being developed for enhanced oil recovery and unconventional production such as shale opportunities.

The JV will see RM80mil being invested in capex and in the second phase will move into the production of proppants and enhanced oil recovery products and aims to capture market share in the large product segments in drilling and production fluids. This is reflective of the recently seen increasing level of backward integration into the chemicals and formulations space by the top oilfield service companies.

What it will mean for Scomi is the production of its own fluids for the oil and gas industry and takes aim at the global oil and gas formulation market which is projected to be worth approximately RM66bil today with steady growth forecast.