On Saturday, Malaysian state-owned company Petroliam Nasional Bhd. (Petronas) said that its joint venture with Saudi Aramco, Pengerang Refining and Petrochemical (PrefChem), had restarted a crude distillation unit (CDU) at its oil refinery.
Earlier last week, the refinery started supplying the unit with crude oil in efforts to restart the plant.
The project, originally known as Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID), was shut in April after a fire damaged its atmospheric residue desulphurization (ARDS) unit.
Previously it was scheduled to restart last month but that was pushed back to 2020. The repair at the ARDS unit would likely take months, so the refinery adjusted the type of crude it processes to low-sulfur oil such as Murban crude from Abu Dhabi.
According to Refinitiv, the refinery‘s strong demand for Murban crude drove Malaysia‘s imports of the oil jump to about 4.6 million barrels in June and July.
