Japan's medium refiners cut throughput

Jan. 9, 1998 Some Japanese medium-sized oil refiners are considering cutting crude throughputs during the first quarter to follow a similar move by domestic oil majors.
Such cuts are being prompted by soaring domestic kerosene inventories.
Kyushu Oil Co., which has a crude distillation capacity of 142,000 bpd in Oita, recently decided to reduce crude runs by 2 % from its original plan for the January-March period, a Kyushu Oil official confirmed.
The official, however, declined to elaborate on the actual volume to be affected by the run cuts.
General Sekiyu K.K., 50.1 %-owned by Exxon is also considering reducing crude runs in the first quarter, though the company has yet to formally decide to do so, a General Sekiyu official said.
General Sekiyu has a 156,000 bpd crude distillation unit in Sakai. Also, its 87.5 %-held subsidiary Nansei Sekiyu K.K. has a topping capacity of 100,000 bpd in Okinawa.
Given stalled domestic demand for heating-use kerosene owing to the mild winter weather, many Japanese refining heavyweights including Idemitsu Kosan Co., Cosmo Oil Co., Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K. and Mitsubishi Oil Co. have already moved to cut back crude throughputs from their initial projections.
In the meantime, Taiyo Oil Co., whose total CDU capacity is 99,000 bpd in Kikuma, has no plans to curtail production, a Taiyo official said.