According to the Oil & Gas Journal (OGJ), Malaysia held proved oil reserves of 4 billion barrels as of January 2014, the fourth-highest reserves in Asia-Pacific after China, India, and Vietnam. Nearly all of Malaysias oil comes from offshore fields. The continental shelf is divided into three producing basins: the Malay basin offshore peninsular Malaysia in the west and the Sarawak and Sabah basins in the east. Most of the countrys oil reserves are located in the Malay basin and tend to be light and sweet crude. Malaysias benchmark crude oil, Tapis Blend, is a light and sweet crude oil, with an API gravity of 42.7° and a sulfur content of 0.04% by weight. Oil trade Malaysia remained a net oil exporter of crude oil and petroleum products in 2013 despite the narrowing gap between production and consumption in the past several years. Malaysia exports about half of its crude oil production because the crude quality (light and sweet) is attractive to the Asian markets and fetches a higher premium compared to other crude oil blends. In return, Malaysia imports lower-cost heavy sour crude oil, about half from the Middle East and the rest from several other regions, for its refineries and domestic needs. In 2013, Malaysia imported 183,000 bbl/d of lower-cost crude oil for processing at its oil refineries. Malaysia exported 240,000 bbl/d of crude oil in 2013, according to Global Trade Atlas, significantly lower than the 400,000 bbl/d export volume in 2000. All of Malaysias crude oil is exported within Asia Pacific, the bulk of which is sent to Australia, India, Thailand, and Japan. Japan began buying more crude oil for direct burn in 2011 after it lost nuclear electric generation following the Fukushima accident. The countrys imports of petroleum products have grown faster than its exports in the past few years. Much of Malaysias oil product trade occurs in Asia, especially with neighboring Singapore. Gasoline is the key import product, making up about 45% of product imports and about a third of all oil product demand.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 13:17:57 +0000
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