After seemingly endless rounds of postponements, we finally have an updated schedule for the introduction of Euro 4 and Euro 5 fuels in Malaysia. Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed announced the new timeline in parliament earlier this month.
As it stands now, Euro 4 RON 97 petrol will arrive first in September 2015, followed by Euro 4 RON 95 petrol in October 2018. Diesel fuel, meanwhile, will be upgraded straight to Euro 5 standard, but its introduction has now been delayed further to September 2020. Currently, fuels in Malaysia comply to Euro 2 standard.
UPDATE: It has now been announced that Euro 5 RON 95 and RON 97 are scheduled for September 2025.
“This is due to issues regarding the large investments that are forced onto oil companies to replace their fuels from Euro 2 to Euro 4 standards,” said Mustapa, explaining the delays.
Last we heard, Petronas is still some time away from delivering Euro 4 fuel – its Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex is set to deliver higher grade diesel and petrol to Malaysians, but that won’t come online until sometime in 2017. Shell, meanwhile, hasn’t revealed its transition plans as yet.
Just last week, BHPetrol introduced Euro 5 diesel fuel in Johor, a good six years ahead of schedule. An expedited introduction in the southern region is required due to tightening emissions regulations in Singapore. The fully-imported (from Singapore) Infiniti Euro 5 Diesel is sold at a regulated price of RM2.30 per litre – 10 sen more than regular Euro 2M diesel – and is only available at selected stations in the state.
