For most of the time since Peninsular Malaysia's diesel price was floated on 10 June 2024, diesel was the cheaper fuel at the pump compared with RON97. Across the first 92 weekly prices of that period, to 5 March 2026, diesel cost less than RON97 every single time, by between 11 and 33 sen a litre. Since 12 March 2026 it has cost more in 33 of 36 weekly prices.
This week's prices, set by the Ministry of Finance for 12 to 18 November 2026, put Peninsular diesel at RM4.87 a litre and RON97 at RM4.20. That is a gap of 67 sen in diesel's disfavour, the widest since mid-April. We counted every weekly price in the government's own fuel price series on data.gov.my, which carries each price the Ministry has set since March 2017.
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The numbers, week by week
| Period (weekly prices) | Diesel dearer than RON97 | Diesel cheaper | Average gap, diesel minus RON97 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Jun 2024 to 5 Mar 2026 (92 prices) | 0 | 92 | minus 24 sen |
| 12 Mar 2026 to 12 Nov 2026 (36 prices) | 33 | 3 | plus 32 sen |
The switch happened in the week of 12 March 2026, when diesel moved to RM3.92 and RON97 to RM3.85. The gap peaked four weeks later: for 9 to 15 April 2026 the Ministry set Peninsular diesel at RM6.72 a litre and RON97 at RM5.35, a difference of RM1.37. RM6.72 is the highest price for any of the three main fuels in the series since it began in March 2017.
The three exceptions were all small. In the weekly prices from 25 June, 1 July and 9 July 2026, diesel dipped 3 sen below RON97 (RM4.07 against RM4.10 on 25 June, then RM3.97 against RM4.00 on 1 and 9 July). From 16 July it was back above, and it has stayed there for 18 weekly prices in a row.
How unusual this is
The series goes back further than the 2024 float, but the earlier years are not a fair comparison throughout. From 13 February 2021 until the float in June 2024 the Peninsular diesel price in the series sat at a fixed RM2.15, so it could not rise above RON97 whatever the market did. Before that, from March 2017 to early 2021, all three fuels were priced weekly. In that earlier floating period diesel matched or beat RON97 only in March 2020: it was 1 sen dearer in the week of 21 March 2020 (RM1.75 against RM1.74) and level the week after, at RM1.68.
So in the government's weekly series, which starts in March 2017, diesel costing more than premium petrol week after week is new. One week in 2020, by 1 sen, was the only precedent in that record.
What this does and does not tell you
These are ceiling prices for unsubsidised fuel in Peninsular Malaysia. They are the weekly retail prices the Ministry of Finance sets under the Automatic Pricing Mechanism, the same figures announced every Wednesday. Eligible drivers may pay subsidised rates instead. The Ministry's November statement puts diesel at RM2.10 a litre for eligible recipients under the BUDI Diesel programme, and the series carries a RM2.15 price for the subsidised diesel control scheme (SKDS), unchanged across the whole float period. For RON95, eligible Malaysians pay RM1.99 under BUDI95, a structure we covered in Malaysia Now Has Three Prices for RON95. RON97 has no subsidised price.
We are not claiming why diesel overtook RON97. The data shows what the prices were, not the reason. The Ministry's own weekly statements attribute price moves to global market prices under the Automatic Pricing Mechanism, and in November it pointed to volatility in global oil markets; it does not break out why diesel and petrol diverged.
This piece uses the Peninsular price. Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan have had a separate diesel arrangement for most of this period, so their figures are left out.
Related, and not a cause: earlier this week we counted from the Road Transport Department's (JPJ) registration files on data.gov.my that diesel has fallen to fourth among fuels in Malaysia's new-car registrations, behind petrol, electric and hybrid, for January to October 2026 (EVs and Hybrids Overtook Diesel in Malaysia's New-Car Registrations). Registrations reflect buying decisions made over months, and we have not shown that pump prices drove them.
How we counted
We took every "level" row of the fuel price series on data.gov.my (dataset id fuelprice, 487 weekly prices from 30 March 2017 to 12 November 2026, downloaded 14 November 2026) and compared the diesel column, which is the Peninsular Malaysia price, with the RON97 column for each date. The float window starts at the 10 June 2024 price, the first after diesel's fixed RM2.15 ended. We checked the newest week and the April peak against the Ministry of Finance's own weekly price statements. A "weekly price" is one row in the series; a few fall fewer or more than seven days apart, such as the float itself on a Monday.
Sources: Ministry of Finance Malaysia, weekly retail petroleum price statements (8 April 2026 and November 2026); data.gov.my fuel price series (fuelprice).
