Japan's JX to hike Sep crude throughput 8% on year to 5.44 million kl

Japan's largest refiner JX Nippon Oil & Energy plans to process 5.44 million kiloliters (34.22 million barrels, or 1.10 million b/d) of crude for the domestic market in September, up 8% from a year ago, company officials said Thursday.
JX processed lower volume of crude last year as its 145,000 b/d Sendai refinery had been shut down following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The refinery was restarted earlier this year.
Meanwhile, it remains unclear when JX Nippon Oil & Energy will be allowed to restart its refining units at the Mizushima-B plant in western Japan after it shut all the units on July 25.
JX voluntarily shut the units after it found that the company had violated safety regulations with regard to its LPG tanks and some other units.
JX Nippon Oil & Energy's sole Oita crude distillation unit, however, is expected to be restarted at the end of August or early September after it shut the CDU on August 16, according to sources familiar with the matter.
JX's planned exports of oil products in September are expected to jump 45.7% from 350,000 kl exported a year ago to 510,000 kl, the officials said.
In August, JX's throughput is expected to come in at 5.29 million kl, down 8.8% from its earlier plan of 5.8 million kl, and down 7% from a year ago, they added.
JX Nippon Oil & Energy did not import any oil products in August, the officials said. But the company exported 620,000 kl of oil products, which was up 17% year on year.
In August, Japan's estimated fuel oil demand for power generation stood at 1.50 million kiloliters, up 50% from a year ago as a result of nuclear outages in the country, the officials said.
The summer power demand season in Japan typically runs from July to September, and the hot weather as well as nuclear power utilization rates have a direct impact on crude, fuel oil and LNG consumption for thermal power generation, especially this year.
Japan's estimated gasoline demand in August was flat from a year ago, while gasoil demand rose 4% from last year on increased reconstruction demand from regions impacted by the earthquake, the officials said.
Estimated demand in July for A-fuel oil - a blend of gasoil and fuel oil in a 90:10 ratio - was also flat from a year ago while kerosene demand jumped 20% from the year ago, the officials added.
JX's total refining capacity stands at 1.6057 million b/d currently.
Source: Platts