SINGAPORE, Feb 15 — State oil firm Petronas has resumed operations at its joint-venture refinery in Malacca after a brief planned maintenance last week, trade sources said today.

The 140,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery was shut for four days for a change of mechanical parts, they said.

“They decided to go ahead with the maintenance as oil product stocks are very high and the domestic market is not doing well,” one of the sources said.

The company could not be reached for comment.

While the maintenance at Petronas did not affect diesel imports and exports from the refinery, it could likely have affected Malaysia’s gasoline exports to Singapore.

Data from International Enterprise showed a complete absence of exports to Singapore in the week ended February 8 versus 33,248 tonnes in the week before.

Petronas owns 53 per cent of the Malacca refinery while US oil company ConocoPhillips holds the remaining stake.

Petronas may also shut its 40,000-bpd refinery in Kerteh, Terengganu, Malaysia, for a planned maintenance at the end of the first quarter, though plans are not firm as of now, the source said. — Reuters