The Malaysian government, via the Environment and Water Ministry, has begun instructing fuel suppliers to commence dispensing low-sulphur Euro 5M Diesel from today, April 1st 2021.

Wait a minute, hasn’t fuel companies been offering Euro 5M Diesel since the middle of 2016? Upon further information checking, the government has now completely phased out Euro 2M standard that originated from the mid-90s, offering just Euro 5M diesel but with two blends of biodiesel.

The Euro 5M Diesel which we are familiar has a palm oil biodiesel-to-petroleum diesel blend of 7%, dubbed B7. Meanwhile, the newly introduced Euro 5M Diesel will continue to have a higher percentage of palm oil biodiesel of 10% or B10.

Based on a visit to BHPetrol and Caltex websites, both blends of Euro 5M specification will continue to use blue nozzles for B7 and black for B10. Owners of modern turbocharged diesel engines such as the SkyActiv-D 2.2 unit from Mazda and Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2CRDi must continue to use the B7 blend, as a 7% blend of palm oil biodiesel is the maximum quantity the engine can safely and reliably operate with.

Meanwhile, the black-nozzled B10 biodiesel is targeted at commercial vehicles in the transportation sector, as well as some modern pick-ups. The phased-out Euro 2M diesel is 50 times “dirtier” than the Euro 5M specifications, as the sulphur content is 500 parts per million (ppm), resulting in higher levels of dangerous emissions in the air.

According to the minister, Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, the phasing out of Euro 2M diesel was September 2020, but a decision was made in June 2020 to postpone the phasing-in date six months later due to the constraints faced by the industries as well as the outbreak of Covid-19.   

The latest weekly fuel price announcement states that diesel prices remain at RM2.25 per litre for B7 blend and RM2.15 per litre for B10 blend, which are ceiling prices that have been set by the government since February 2021. The price of the uncapped RON 97 fuel has been on a rising trend, now retailing at RM2.52 per litre.