Cosmo Oil said it has put out the fire that has been raging for 10 days at its LPG tanks at the Chiba refinery as of Monday morning in a statement on its website.
"The fire in the LPG tanks and its surrounding at Cosmo Oil's Chiba Refinery caused by the earthquake ... on March 11 has been extinguished today as of 10:10 [local time, 0110 GMT]," the statement said.
Cosmo said there was no damage to the refining units and it is currently investigating all units to see when operations at the 220,000 b/d Chiba refinery can be resumed.
Six people were injured as a result of the fire, which started at 3:47 pm local time March 11.
"Cosmo Oil expresses the sincerest apologies for the problems and unease caused to the nearby residents and to all those concerned. Every action will continue to be taken to resume normal operations as soon as possible," the statement said.
To plug the product shortfall arising from the closure of its Chiba refinery, Cosmo has raised the refining capacity at its Yokkaichi and Sakaide plants by a total 80,000 b/d, a company official said in an email on Monday.
Cosmo raised the capacity of the No. 5 crude distillation unit at the Yokkaichi refinery from 50,000 b/d to 90,000 b/d, and its No. 6 CDU at the same refinery from 75,000 b/d to 85,000 b/d.
The company also raised its crude processing capacity at the sole CDU at Sakaide from 110,000 b/d to 140,000 b/d.
The new capacities were effective March 15, the spokesman said.
This brings total refining capacity at its Yokkaichi refinery to 175,000 b/d and Sakaide refinery to 140,000 b/d. Refining capacity at its Sakai refinery remained unchanged.
