Malaysia April fuel oil output beats pre-pandemic figure, road fuels suffer

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) – Production of fuel oil in Malaysia in April moved higher than the equivalent 2019 level for the first time since the start of the pandemic, after gaining 1.8% on the month to 170,065 mt, according to data released Friday by the Department of Statistics.

Naphtha production was also above 2019 levels for the third month already this year at 359,251 mt, up 12.8% on the month.

Gasoline manufacturing dipped for the second month running, falling 3.5% in April to 474,289 mt and leaving it below the 2019 equivalent figure for the first time in 2021.

Meanwhile, diesel and gasoil fell by a much sharper 32.1% from March, to 659,397 mt, making it the lowest monthly level since May last year when production of the middle distillates was 585,292 mt.

LNG production was also at an 11-month low of 1.974 million mt, following a 24.8% monthly drop, and despite multi-month highs for LNG prices in the region during April.

Rounding out statistics for the main products, LPG production fell 19.1% on the month to 193,970 mt and was 17.6% below the 2019 level after having moved above pre-pandemic production for the first time in March.

Malaysia has moved through various states of lockdown this year, with rules also diverging by state based on the localised spread of Covid-19.

Throughout much of April, Conditional Movement Orders were in place, while a more stringent Movement Control Order was reimposed in the Kelantan state.

At the end of May the government announced a "total lockdown" for two weeks starting June 1, followed by a phased reopening of the economy over the next 4 weeks.