Data from the Petroleum Association of Japan showed crude run rates in the country rose to 71.7% in the week ended November 14. Last week’s run rate is the highest in 13 weeks since the peak summer driving season in mid-August. The crude run rates increased from 68.4% in the previous week. Domestic crude throughput rose by 4.7% to 2.48 million bpd last week as refiners ramped up output for the upcoming winter heating demand season.
The increase in crude run rates last week came after Cosmo Oil completed scheduled maintenance at its 86,000 bpd crude distillation unit at its Yokkaichi plant and resumed operations at the unit on November 9. ENEOS, formerly known as JXTG, also restarted its 120,000 bpd CDU at its Negishi refinery on November 5. However, it is worth noting that Japan’s total installed refining capacity fell to 3.4578 million bpd from 3.5188 million bpd after ENEOS shut a CDU at its Osaka refinery in late September.
