Petronas partners Versalis for factories in $19 bln petchems complex

KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 (Reuters) - Malaysia's state-owned firm Petronas said on Thursday it has teamed up with Italian firm Versalis SpA to build and run elastomer plants within a 60 billion ringgit ($18.96 billion) proposed petrochemicals complex in the southern state of Johor.

The joint venture marks the fourth Petronas has secured for the refinery and petrochemical integrated development project so far after Germany's BASF, Japan's Itochu Corp and Thailand's PTT Global Chemical Public Company Ltd .

Under the terms of the partnership, the proposed joint venture will produce and market synthetic rubbers using Versalis' technology license and technical know-how. Italian oil and gas group Eni SpA wholly owns and controls Versalis. ($1 = 3.1640 Malaysian ringgits) (Reporting By Yantoultra Ngui; Editing By Niluksi Koswanage)