April 26, 2012:

Japan's top oil refiner JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp plans to refine 5.07 million kilolitres of crude oil in May for domestic consumption, up 12 percent from a year earlier, a company executive said on Thursday. Its April crude refining for domestic consumption was estimated at 5.79 million kl, up 24 percent from the year-earlier period, said Tsutomu Sugimori, the company's senior vice president. That was lower than its original plan of 6.10 million kl due to troubles at its Marifu refinery.

The company plans to conduct scheduled maintenance on its 136,000 barrels per day Oita refinery from May 15 to June 13. The refining volumes do not include condensate but include crude processed at its 51 percent-owned venture with Petrochina, called Osaka International Refining Co, which is an export-oriented 115,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery. The company, the wholly owned downstream oil subsidiary of JX Holdings Inc, operates eight refineries in Japan with total capacity of 1.61 million bpd including Osaka refinery.

By Reuters