SINGAPORE: Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) plans to restart its 270,000 barrels per day (bpd) Melaka refinery in the country's west coast in mid-December after a planned maintenance, industry sources said on Thursday.
The state-owned oil and gas firm shut both the 100,000 bpd No. 1 crude distillation unit (CDU) and 170,000 bpd No. 2 CDU in early November for planned maintenance for about six weeks, one of the sources said.
The company will likely return to the spot market to offer gasoil in January, the source added.
Petronas did not immediately respond to a Reuters email query on the matter.
Petronas last offered an ultra-low-sulphur diesel cargo for loading in early November from Melaka and a high-sulphur gasoil cargo for early December loading from Kertih but has been absent from the spot market since, traders said.
The No. 1 CDU processes mainly sweet crude and condensates, while its No. 2 CDU is designed to process both sweet and sour crude, according to the company website.
Malaysia's weekly imports of gasoil from Singapore rose to the highest in at least six months in the week to Dec. 9, latest data from Singapore's trade agency International Enterprise showed. "It's a major turnaround, so Petronas has had to turn to imports to meet domestic demand," the first source said.
The lack of Malaysian spot exports of diesel and a prolonged shutdown of a refining unit at Shell's 500,000 bpd Bukom refinery are keeping margins for the oil product supported in Asia, traders said.
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