On Tuesday, Japan’s biggest oil refiner Eneos Holdings Inc. said that it would close its Chita petrochemical plant in central Japan in October 2021 due to the weak local demand and harsh competition in Asia.
Eneos Executive Vice-President Junichi Iwase said that due to the slumping paraxylene market, the Chita plant is estimated to make a continuous loss. He added that the closing of the plant would only cut the company’s paraxylene (PX) capacity by 400,000 tpa out of its total capacity of more than 3 million tpa.
Eneos will keep the employment of all of Chita plant’s workers, while also in a discussion with rival Idemitsu Kosan to transfer some of its production facilities at the plant, including those for PX, to Idemitsu.
On a related note, last week Eneos Chairman Tsutomu Sugimori estimated a more rapid decrease in crude product demand that would drive refiners to assess their production capacity and structure to reflect the change.
The company’s president Katsuyuki Ota had said in August that Eneos will accelerate its transformation into a supplier of low-carbon energy and materials.
