KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 22): Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd has awarded a contract to build a US$132 million (RM538.2 million) diesel refining plant in Port Dickson to South Korean petrochemical company Daelim Industrial Co.

According to a report by the Yon Hap News Agency today, the plant will have a production capacity of 35,000 barrels of diesel per day when completed.

Construction of the plant is set to be completed by 2020, said Daelim.

Daelim had previously built a US$1.78 billion refining plant in the Philippines in 2015.

"Petron Malaysia is an affiliate of the Philippine's largest oil refiner, Petron.

"Daelim Industrial built a 2-trillion won (US$1.78 billion) refining plant in the Philippines in 2015," the report said.

The news follows reports of Petron Malaysia's first quarterly loss since 2014. The group posted a loss of RM25.55 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2018 (4QFY18), from a profit of RM99.57 million a year ago.

The loss was attributed to inventory holding losses resulting from a sharp fall in prices of finished products as crude oil price dropped towards the end of 2018.

As of 2:31pm, Petron Malaysia shares fell 59 sen or 7.88% to RM6.90, with 967,100 shares traded.