KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 30): Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd saw its share price surge by as much as 48 sen or 6% to RM8.50 in the final hour of trading today, after the company was reported to have been appointed by Putrajaya as a fuel provider for government vehicles.

The stock quickly rose to claim the third position among today's top gainers on the local stock exchange, after a total of 986,800 shares changed hands at the time of writing.

The surge in Petron's share price came after an appointment letter stating it is "one of the fuel providers for government vehicles through indent cards" went viral, according to Malaysiakini.

It was also stated that the Finance Ministry hopes the appointment of Petron "would provide a better choice and alternative to the existing fuel providers".

The news portal said government sources confirmed the letter has been distributed to government ministries. However, it is thus far unclear how many fuel providers, other than Petron, were engaged by the government.

Petron is perceived to be linked to the son of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Mirzan Mahathir, although the latter had repeatedly denied owning shares in the fuel company.

In 2013, Mirzan clarified he had "no interest in Petron Malayisa" and that he only owned 1,000 shares in Petron Corp.

Petron Malaysia is part of Petron Corp, which is in turn owned by Philippines-based San Miguel group.