New ASEAN Energy and ACTUAL Sign Cooperation Agreement to Develop Net-Zero Plan for the New $5B USD Pengerang Energy Complex

SAN FRANCISCO , March 19 /Businesswire/ - New ASEAN Energy (NAE) and ACTUAL have formed an agreement, leveraging ACTUAL’s AI-driven capital planning technology to develop a comprehensive net-zero emissions strategy for The Pengerang Energy Complex (PEC).

PEC is set to be one of the world’s largest and most competitive integrated condensate splitter and aromatics facilities. Having signed over $102B USD of off-take agreements with several blue-chip energy providers, including Equinor, Chevron, PTT, and Mitsui, PEC is anticipated to have higher margins and a materially lower environmental footprint than similar plants.

PEC's outputs are strategically important for industries including textiles, bottling, housing, and pharmaceuticals. PEC is poised to set industry-leading benchmarks, achieving the lowest carbon footprint per ton of Paraxylene (PX) produced by any facility globally, thereby delivering best-in-class performance across many materials. The Agreement between NAE and ACTUAL focuses on building a scientifically and technologically credible transition plan leveraging ACTUAL’s AI-driven capital planning technology. The plan seeks to improve PEC's environmental performance further to move it towards becoming one of the first net-zero facilities globally.

Decarbonizing complex plants like PEC requires a multi-layered approach. ACTUAL and NAE plan to iteratively investigate several strategies, such as the construction of green renewable power plants for facility operations; blue and green hydrogen production; native green feedstocks for the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF); carbon capture technologies such as the use of mineralization or algae; alternative sources for industrial heat such as geothermal, among many others.

“ACTUAL’s technology was designed for exactly this kind of important effort — decarbonizing industries critical to our economy and resilience,” said Karthik Balakrishnan, co-founder of ACTUAL. “We are excited to collaborate with NAE to build scientifically valid capital plans that could set PEC on the path towards net zero.”

“With our focus on investing in and operating high-margin, low-carbon facilities in Southeast Asia, engaging with new and innovative ways to improve our sustainability posture is critical,” said William I.Y. Byun, CEO of NAE. “This collaboration is exciting because of the potential to show a clear, articulate pathway towards net zero for one of the premier new facilities in the region.”

About New ASEAN Energy:

NAE focuses on the management and operations of low-carbon petrochemical plants in the ASEAN region. NAE is led by CEO William I.Y. Byun, a seasoned expert in infrastructure investing and renewable energy across the Asia climate sector, and CFO Mayank Vishnoi, who previously served as CEO of a listed holding company at SGX (Singapore) and worked on multiple fund-raising transactions in the infrastructure and renewable energy sectors across Southeast Asia. NAE’s board directors includes:

• Bobby Tudor, previously a partner with Goldman Sachs and the former Chairman and founder of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., now a part of Perella Weinberg Partners
• Stephen Trauber, who previously served as the Vice Chairman & Global Head of Natural Resources & Clean Energy Transition for Citi Bank, Vice Chairman & Global Head of Energy for UBS, Managing Director and Head of Energy for Morgan Stanley and Vice President of Energy M&A Group for Credit Suisse First Boston
• Robert Turnham, former President, Director and founding partner of Goodrich Petroleum Corporation, a public exploration and production company for 26 years
• Neil Bush, Chairman of Atlas Renewable Inc, Co-Chairman of CIIC, Chairman of A&A Investments, Chairman of the George HW Bush Foundation for US China Relations, and Chairman of the Bush School of Government and Public Service Advisory Board
• Laique Rehman, founder and Chief Executive Officer of US Petrochemicals Inc

About ACTUAL:

Founded in 2018 by Rajesh Chandran, Karthik Balakrishnan, Ph.D., and Derek Lyons, Ph.D., ACTUAL builds the first-in-category AI-driven capital planning technology designed to help large enterprises globally build capital plans to meet their net-zero and UN-SDG aligned targets. ACTUAL’s platform enables leaders to build living capital plans that are always up to date, in compliance with evolving standards, and available for stakeholder inspection. ACTUAL’s platform has been recognized by Business Intelligence Group as a 2022 Sustainability Product of the Year, is a TIME Best Inventions 2022 winner and an honoree of Fast Company’s 2023 Innovation By Design Award. ACTUAL is backed by Energy Capital Ventures, Buckley Ventures, Hyper, Social Impact Capital, Wndrco, Sequoia Scout, Signalfire Scout, Craft Scout and Global Founders Capital. For more information, visit actualhq.com.

About Pengerang Energy Complex:

Pengerang Energy Complex (“PEC”) is set to be one of the largest and most competitive integrated condensate splitter and aromatics facilities in the world. PEC is located in the Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex (PIPC) in Johor, Malaysia, directly opposite Singapore. The resulting downstream products are used in a wide range of consumer products (textiles, bottles, housing, pharmaceuticals). The 6.5 million metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) facility will in turn produce aromatics of 2.3 mmtpa, energy products output of 3.9 mmtpa and hydrogen output of 50,000 metric tonnes per annum (mtpa).The condensate splitter will produce heavy naphtha, a primary feedstock for the aromatics plant whereas the hydrogen produced is planned to be used to support development of downstream renewable fuels facilities in Johor.

The US$5 billion project is estimated to generate an annual export turnover of US$5 billion for Malaysia. Involving fully automated processes, the greenfield PEC has been designed to optimize energy efficiency, minimize equipment size, and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with International Financial Corporation’s (IFC) performance standards. Offering the latest technological advances, the world-class PEC facility will be one of the largest and most energy efficient integrated condensate splitter and aromatics facilities globally, strategically located to serve the regional Asian markets and satisfy forecast long-term sustained regional growth. ChemOne Group, a leading energy and petrochemicals project developer based in Singapore, is the master developer for the project. ChemOne’s successful track record over the last 40 years includes developing similar projects in Southeast Asia.

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