Japan's largest refiner, JX Nippon Oil & Energy, plans to process 6.33 million kiloliters (39.8 million barrels or 1.28 million b/d) of crude oil for the domestic market, in January, down 1% year on year, a company official said Wednesday.
The year-on-year drop in JX's crude throughput for January is partly because of the shutdown of its 95,000 b/d No. 2 crude distillation unit at its Mizushima-B refinery in western Japan, the official said.
The No. 2 CDU has been shut since July due to a violation of the government's safety regulations, with regard to its LPG tanks and other units, Platts previously reported. It is unclear when the CDU's operations will resume, the official added.
Meanwhile, JX's crude throughput in December is expected to be 6.19 million kl, up 11% year on year, the official said. The expected year-on-year jump is due to an exceptionally low figure in December 2011, when refineries were shut at Sendai and Kashima in eastern Japan as well as Mizushima in western Japan, for various reasons.
JX plans to export 250,000 kl of oil products in January, more than double the 110,000 kl exported in the same month last year. The company does not reveal the total crude throughput figure for the month, which will include the volume to be processed for oil product exports.
The refiner is expected to export 300,000 kl of oil products in December, up 6% year on year, the company said.
On the other hand, JX imported 180,000 kl of oil products in December, three times more than the 60,000 kl in December 2011, the official said. The company has yet to decide on its oil products import volume for January.
