Shell product lineup

Some product-related news from the launch of the Welcome to Shell multi-year brand transformation programme last night. Last week, it was reported that Shell will be introducing Euro 4M V-Power 97 fuel at its stations in September as planned, and that Euro 5 diesel will be available in selection locations in the fourth quarter of the year.

According to the Mohd Haniff Abd Shukor, head of fuels marketing at Shell Malaysia Trading, the list of specific stations that will carry its Euro 5 diesel are still being finalised, but the Klang Valley and Southern region are definitely on the cards, so users will have another choice aside from BHPetrol's Infiniti Euro 5 Diesel when that happens. He also said that the company is exploring the introduction of the fuel in the Northern region, but no timeframe for a rollout was mentioned.

Meanwhile, V-Power Racing users are already running their rides on Euro 4M specification fuel - Haniff said the limited application and unregulated fuel had been introduced a while ago, ahead of regular Euro 4 RON 97's mandated September 2015 deployment timeline.

Speaking of mandate, and this will be of interest to Euro 5 diesel users, the fuel is quite likely to go the B10 biodiesel (a blend of 10% palm-based biodiesel and 90% petroleum diesel) route if the government brings Euro 5 diesel in line with the October timeline for Euro 2M diesel to go B10.

Currently, BHPetrol's Euro 5 is a B7 blend, and by the point of introduction sometime in Q4, Shell's Euro 5 might well be a B10 blend, as will BHPetrol's, though nothing has yet been set in stone. Sources have however revealed that Petronas is set to argue quite strongly against the case of going B10 for Euro 5 - will there be an exemption for Euro 5, given its limited (and non-regulated) deployment scale until its mandated introduction nationwide in September 2020? Stay tuned.