Still No Firm Plans To Introduce Euro-4 Fuels In Malaysia

Back in 2009, Malaysia’s road map for vehicle emission standard and fuel quality states that Euro-4 fuel is supposed to be introduced in 2012.

In 2011, the then Transport Minister Kong Chong Ha extended the deadline to 2015 (some reports indicate 2014, this is in reference to the financial year) explaining that oil companies requested for an extension as they were not ready to make the necessary upgrades to their facilities.

Although we are already approaching the second quarter of 2014, there is still no indication of when the Euro-4 fuel will be introduced. Recent developments suggest that both the government and oil producers will once again backtrack on the deadline.

The third National Automotive Policy had initially proposed for Euro-4M (Malaysian standard, slight modification from Euro-4) fuels to be introduced in 2015, but when the final policy was announced in January 2014, Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed was non-committal about the issue, saying that a separate announcement will be made in two months’ time but that did not happen too.

Thailand introduced Euro-4 in 2012 while Singapore has upgraded to Euro-5 in January this year. Countries in the European Union will be adopting Euro-6 in September 2014.

In countries like the Philippines and Indonesia, the standard is still Euro-2 but Euro-3 and Euro-4 standard fuels are available from some retailers as a premium-grade fuel.

In Indonesia, Pertamina sells unsubsidised Euro-3 Pertamina Dex diesel, while in the Philippines, Euro-4 fuel is available from Petron and Unioil.

Even when implemented, Euro 4M is not an exact duplicate of Euro-4, which many modern engines are designed to operate with. Benzene (a known cancer-causing agent) levels, for example, are permitted to go up to 3.5 per cent in Euro-4M versus 1 per cent in Euro-4.

Sulphur content, however, remains the same at 50 ppm.

Read more about this story in Issue 003 of Carlist.my's Automotive Industry Review. Download a copy for free here.