You Can Have Any Grade Of Diesel At The Pumps So Long As It’s Euro 5

After the whole back-and-forth about Euro 5 diesel, the government has finally announced that the higher-grade diesel with less sulphur content will be replacing the Euro 2M diesel at all pumps nationwide.

Not an April Fool’s joke, the switch was announced by environment and water minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.

Originally slated for implementation on 1 September 2020, the move fell victim to the Covid-19 pandemic as the inability of supporting industries to hold up the switch caused the postponement.

The announcement by Tuan Ibrahim also clarified that all all manufacturers, suppliers and petrol retailer stations are required to comply with the implementation that’s in line with the Environmental Quality (Control of Petrol and Diesel Properties) Regulations 2007 as well as the Environmental Quality (Control of Petrol and Diesel Properties) (Amendment) Regulations 2021.

Euro 5 diesel has a lower sulphur content of 10 parts per million (ppm) compared to Euro 2M’s 500ppm sulphur content.

“The implementation of the Euro 5 diesel specification is part of the government’s efforts to improve the status of air quality as outlined in the Clean Air Action Plan 2010,” he added during the announcement.

Although Euro 5 diesel has been available in the country via the initiatives of individual fuel retailers, there was no mandate to do so and Euro 2M was the minimum grade approved.

BHPetrol was the first fuel retailer to offer Euro 5 diesel and wasn’t shy to admit that it did so purely for bragging rights. Euro 5 can be identified by the use of the light blue coloured hose and nozzle over the regular black hose for Euro 2M.

Nonetheless, after BHPetrol’s move to introduce Euro 5 diesel at selected pumps, other fuel retailers followed suit but only at selected stations.

Prior to the mandated switch, Euro 5 diesel was priced at RM0.10 higher than Euro 2M per litre. However, the announcement by Tuan Ibrahim neglected to mention if the pricing structure will be retained. For now, we can assume that with Euro 5 being the sole grade, it should retain the Euro 2M ceiling price of RM2.15 per litre.

While the move is welcomed, the long-awaited introduction of a higher biodiesel content in pump diesel remains in limbo. Although BHPetrol and Caltex offer B10 biodiesel options, the rest continue to offer the minimum B7 grade.

There were talks to introduce a B20 grade of biodiesel and we even tested it out on a number of diesel vehicles. B20 denotes a blend of regular diesel and biodiesel with the latter comprising 20 per cent of the mix.