PCG Navigates Challenges and Focuses on Delivering Growth: A 2024 AGM Review
On April 21, 2025, PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad (PCG) held its 27th Annual General Meeting (AGM), marking a significant milestone in the company’s journey as a leading player in the chemicals industry. The meeting, chaired by Chairman Datuk Sazali Hamzah, was attended by the company’s board members, including Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Mazuin Ismail, and Chief Financial Officer Mohd Azli Ishak. The AGM provided an overview of PCG’s performance for the financial year ended 31 December 2024, underscoring the company’s resilience and strategic initiatives aimed at securing future growth.
In her presentation, PCG Mazuin Ismail provided an in-depth analysis of the company’s performance in 2024, highlighted its ongoing growth plans, and offered insights into the company’s outlook for 2025. Despite an environment marked by global economic uncertainty, geopolitical disruptions, and rising energy costs, demonstrated commendable operational and commercial resilience.
Resilience Amidst Market Challenges
The year 2024 presented several challenges for PCG, with geopolitical instability, rising energy costs, inflationary pressures, and market oversupply all contributing to a complex operating environment. These factors, alongside the ongoing slowdown in global economic growth, especially in key markets, tested the resilience of many companies in the chemicals sector.
However, PCG managed to maintain strong operational and commercial performance through a series of proactive measures and strategic initiatives. Notably, the company achieved an impressive plant utilization rate of 91%, surpassing the world-class benchmark of 90%. This performance was a testament to the company’s focus on enhancing operational efficiency and minimizing downtime.
PCG’s production volume reached an all-time high of 11.2 million tonnes per annum in 2024, with significant contributions from its specialty chemicals segment. The company’s focus on improving asset reliability, boosting plant efficiency, and integrating advanced digital solutions for operational monitoring played a crucial role in achieving these milestones.
On the commercial front, PCG recorded a significant achievement in sales volume, reaching 10.4 million metric tonnes—a 27% increase over the past five years. This growth reflected PCG’s continued strong position in the market, as well as its commitment to excellence in fulfilling customer orders. The company’s order fulfillment reliability of 95% in the Commodities segment further underscored its ability to meet and exceed industry standards, with a consistent focus on providing reliable service to customers across key markets, including China, Thailand, and Indonesia.
Mazuin Ismail attributed strong performance to its unwavering commitment to operational excellence. She remarked, “The proactive efforts in enhancing efficiency, reliability, and capabilities have significantly contributed to our resilience, ensuring that we deliver superior product quality and timely services to our customers.”
Strategic Growth and Expansion Plans
Delivering growth remained a top priority for throughout 2024. The company made significant strides in advancing its growth initiatives, particularly in its Olefins and Derivatives segment. A key highlight of this effort was the commencement of commercial operations at the Pengerang Petrochemicals Company in Johor. This facility, PCG’s largest growth project in partnership with Aramco, marks a major milestone in the company’s strategic plans. The Pengerang facility produces polymers and glycols, which are key components in everyday consumer products.
In addition to Pengerang, PCG made notable progress in its other growth projects. The Isononanol plant in Pengerang achieved on-spec production and is on track for full operations in 2025. This plant is expected to be a key contributor to PCG’s growth, as it will supply important chemicals for use in various industries, including automotive and consumer goods.
PCG’s growth initiatives also extend to the Fertiliser and Methanol segment, where the company is nearing completion of its Melamine plant in Gurun, Kedah. The plant will enhance product flexibility and enable PCG to capture higher-value opportunities, making the company the sole producer of melamine in Southeast Asia and reducing the region’s dependence on imports.
The company’s expansion efforts are further supported by strategic partnerships. PCG’s joint venture with PCC SE in Kertih, Terengganu, which produces Specialty Ethoxylates and Polyether Polyols, has been operationalized, providing products for high-growth sectors like automotive and personal care. Similarly, PCG doubled its 2-ethylhexanoic acid (2-EH) production capacity in Gebeng, Pahang, in response to growing demand for synthetic lubricants and oil additives.
Collectively, these growth initiatives are expected to increase PCG’s total production by approximately 1.8 million tonnes annually, reinforcing the company’s commitment to downstream growth and value creation in the long term.
Innovation and Specialty Chemicals Focus
PCG’s strategy also emphasizes innovation and expansion in the specialty chemicals segment. One of the key developments in this area is the company’s integration of the Isononanol plant in Pengerang with Perstorp’s oxo chemicals portfolio. This integration strengthens PCG’s position in the Asia Pacific plasticizer market, responding to the growing demand for high-performance, sustainable materials.
The company also launched Pevalen™ Pro 100, a next-generation sustainable plasticizer derived from renewable carbon. This product sets a new industry standard by offering a fully renewable, high-performance solution for the soft plastics sector, particularly in automotive and medical applications. In line with its commitment to sustainability, PCG also introduced Emfinity™, a bio-based moisturizing ingredient for personal care formulations. This product has garnered positive feedback from leading cosmetic brands, further reinforcing PCG’s commitment to meeting the evolving needs of high-value, sustainable markets.
Moreover, PCG’s acquisition of OQ Chemicals Nederland B.V. expands the company’s capability to manufacture a range of synthetic esters used in transformer fluids, thus strengthening its presence in the Engineered Fluids segment.
To further solidify its position in the global market, PCG continues to expand its geographical footprint. The establishment of a regional office in Türkiye underscores the company’s growing presence in Europe, while a new certified sustainable Pentaerythritol and Calcium Formate plant in Bharuch, India, enhances the company’s competitiveness in the Asian market. The new facility will support rising local demand while enhancing PCG’s regional expansion efforts.
Financial Performance and Value Creation
Despite the challenging operating environment in 2024, PCG continued to demonstrate resilience, maintaining profitability and delivering value for its shareholders. The company achieved record revenue of RM30.7 billion, driven by increased sales volumes across all segments, improved product prices, and contributions from its petrochemical operations in Johor.
However, the company’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) declined to RM3.5 billion, primarily due to lower product spreads. Nevertheless, PCG remained in a strong financial position, balancing its investments in growth projects with maximum distribution to stakeholders. The company declared its highest dividend payout ratio of 88.5%, a reflection of its commitment to creating value for shareholders.
Mazuin Ismail expressed confidence in PCG’s ability to navigate the uncertainties of the global market, noting, “While we continue to operate in an increasingly uncertain global environment, intensified by trade tensions and market volatility, we remain focused on operational and commercial excellence. Our priorities include safety, cost optimization, and asset reliability to strengthen our resilience.”
Strategic Focus for 2025 and Beyond
PCG remains committed to maintaining its strategic focus on growth, innovation, and operational excellence. The company will continue to prioritize safety, cost optimization, and asset reliability while pursuing its long-term growth objectives. In response to market dynamics, PCG’s growth strategy will focus on building a robust project pipeline that responds to evolving industry trends while leveraging its global innovation network to deliver cutting-edge solutions.
Mazuin Ismail concluded, “Our growth strategy is designed to ensure that PCG remains competitive in a challenging environment. We are committed to long-term value creation for our stakeholders, and we will continue to adapt and evolve to meet the needs of our customers and the demands of the global market.”
PCG’s resilience in the face of external challenges, combined with its proactive approach to growth and innovation, positions the company for continued success in the years to come. With a robust project pipeline and a strategic focus on sustainability and operational excellence, PCG is well-positioned to thrive in an increasingly competitive and dynamic global market.
