KUALA LUMPUR  -

* Malaysia has completed talks with Saudi Aramco over the oil giant's planned $7 billion investment in Petronas' Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project, said the minister in the prime minister's department, Abdul Rahman Dahlan

* Aramco's investment will come in by the end of the month, minister Abdul Rahman said on Tuesday at the OTC Asia conference

* Saudi Aramco agreed last February to buy a $7 billion stake in the RAPID project of Malaysian state energy firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd

* Minister Abdul Rahman had said in November the companies will finalise the joint venture after resolving "technical issues"

* RAPID is a $27 billion project located between the Malacca Strait and the South China Sea, conduits for Middle East oil and gas bound for China, Japan and South Korea

* RAPID will consist of a 300,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery and a petrochemical complex with a capacity of 7.7 million metric tonnes a year

* Refinery operations are set to begin in 2019, with petrochemical plants to follow 6-12 months later

 

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi, Emily Chow anad Florence Tan; Editing by Tom Hogue) ((ananthalakshmi.as@thomsonreuters.com; +603 2333 8036; Reuters Messaging: ananthalakshmi.as.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; Twitter: @AnanthalakshmiA))