PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s fuel supply remains stable despite lower global supply levels, with the government confident it can secure sufficient supplies through to the end of the year, says the Prime Minister’s economic adviser Nurhisham Hussein.
Nurhisham, who also heads the Secretariat of the National Economic Action Council or MTEN Crisis Management Task Force, said the global fuel situation has remained fluid. Risks, however, remained skewed towards higher prices due to geopolitical tensions and disruptions to key shipping routes, he added.
Malaysia is a major importer of crude oil but is a net exporter of liquefied natural gas or LNG. Global oil supplies have been severely affected due to the West Asia conflict, which erupted in February and has shown no signs of ending, with continued attacks between the United States and Iran till today.
Nurhisham reckoned that countries were likely to rebuild their oil reserves only when prices returned to more reasonable levels of around US$80 per barrel.
“So, we will have a very slow rebuilding of reserves by these countries, but that implies as well that over the next two to three years oil prices will continue to be elevated,” he told a media briefing on the global supply crisis last Friday. — Bernama
