Malaysia’s Pengerang Refining Company (Prefchem) has offered more low-sulphur straight run (LSSR) fuel oil for sale in a tender that closed on Friday, market sources said, as a refining unit that processes the fuel remained shut.

The refiner offered two cargoes in its latest tender. One 250,000-barrel cargo is scheduled to load on September 15-16, while the other 540,000-barrel cargo is slated to load on September 24-25.

Earlier, Prefchem sold two LSSR fuel cargoes totalling 1.08 million barrels for loading on September 4-6 and September 9-11.

Malaysia’s state-owned energy major Petronas, which owns half of Prefchem, did not respond to a request for comment.

The refiner was offering more fuel oil as one of its 70,000 barrels per day residual fluid catalytic cracking (RFCC) units was unexpectedly shut from around mid-August, sources said.

The unit is expected to restart within two weeks, one source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Fuel oil is typically processed in a RFCC unit to produce higher-value products such as gasoline.

Prefchem, the joint venture between Petronas and Saudi Aramco 2223, operates a 300,000 barrels per day refinery in Pengerang, Johor.
Source: Reuters