Japan’s refinery utilisation rate falls to 2-year low
Japan’s refinery utilisation rate tumbled by 7.9 percentage points in the week ended June 6 to a two-year low of 65.4 percent, industry data showed on Wednesday, as seasonal maintenance kicked in, along with an unplanned shutdown after a fire.
The run rate in June is typically one of the lowest throughout the year due to heavy maintenance at refineries ahead of the peak summer season.
Government rules aimed at raising the industry’s competitiveness have resulted in domestic refinery capacity falling below 4 million barrels per day (bpd) by March 2014, which have helped keep run rates at a relatively high level.
But the start of maintenance shutdowns of two crude distillation units (CDUs) from late May in addition to an unplanned May 29 shutdown of a fire-hit 189,000-bpd CDU at Kashima refinery run by JX Nippon Oil helped push the run rate to its lowest since the week ended May 25, 2013.
At least eight of the nation’s 33 CDUs are currently shut down, according to Reuters calculations, with two of them slated to be restarted within the coming days. A separate CDU, JX’s 145,000-bpd Sendai unit, is set to be shut for maintenance from Saturday.
A JX spokesman said the Kashima CDU shutdown would have no impact on the refinery’s truck and marine product shipments for the foreseeable future, but declined to comment on whether it was importing oil products until the restart of the Kashima CDU.
Following are the CDUs that are currently shut. Capacity is in 1,000 bpd.
