Refineries at Port Dickson on Malaysia’s west coast are unable to receive crude oil after the single point mooring (SPM) unit, a facility that carries crude from the ships to the plants, broke down.
The SPM connects to a refinery operated by Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd (HRC), a subsidiary of China’s Shandong Hengyuan Petrochemical Co, and a second plant owned by the Philippines’ largest refiner Petron Corp.
Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd (PMRMB) confirmed to Reuters that its Port Dickson refinery cannot receive crude oil to produce refined products due to an SPM problem.
The company added it had taken necessary measures to import more refined products to meet its needs.
The SPM is anticipated to return to normal operations by early November and the company’s temporary inability to process crude oil at the refinery will not impact its supply of finished products to the market, PMRMB was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Meanwhile, a Shandong-based official with Hengyuan’s parent company confirmed the refiner was replacing a broken valve of the pipeline of the SPM unit, but said he has no knowledge how long the repair work would take.
According to data provided by Refinitiv Eikon, the Shell-chartered tankers ‘Maran Plato’ and ‘Torm Valborg’ were still anchored off the port laden with crude as of Tuesday, while they were supposed to discharge on 18 and 16 October, respectively.
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