Japan Japan s ENEOS said April 16 it has restarted its Sendai refinery in northeast Japan, which had been suspended since the strong earthquake offshore Fukushima on Feb. 13. ENEOS initially planned to restart the Sendai refinery in the first half of April. However, another earthquake of magnitude 6.9 occurred off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture, northeast Japan, on March 20. Then ENEOS delayed the restart schedule to mid-April. Japan s largest refiner ENEOS has restarted the sole 129,000 b/d crude distillation unit at the Chiba refinery in Tokyo Bay after completing scheduled maintenance on April 22, a spokesman said April 23. Japan s ENEOS said April 20 it shut the 170,000 b/d No. 2 crude distillation unit at its 247,000 b/d Kawasaki refinery in Tokyo bay on April 10 for unplanned repair work on a valve, and expected to restart at the end of April.
REFINERY NEWS ROUNDUP: Maintenance accelerates in China
A number of refineries in China are starting or planning to carry out works in the second quarter.
China independent refiners’ appetite for crude and bitumen blend saw modest monthly growth in March following the easing of congestion at Shandong port, and inflows are expected to maintain similar momentum in the coming months as more refineries go offline for maintenance. In April, a combined 10.5 million mt/year of refining capacity will be shut at four Shandong facilities, bringing total offline capacity to 12.8 million mt/year. This trend is expected to continue in May-June, sources said. But there was still uncertainty over shutdown schedules as refineries have been very flexible with their maintenance plans. The 2.2 million mt/year Kelida Petrochemical, for example, has postponed its maintenance plan sometime from April to March.
CHINA DATA: Throughput to ease from 7-month highs as refineries set to go offline
China’s crude throughput in March is expected to ease from seven-month highs seen in February, as refiners embark on a much delayed maintenance spree after postponing them last year in the wake of COVID-19, a move that could put downward pressure on oil products availability.
About 50 million mt/year of refining capacity at six state-owned refineries five from Sinopec and one from CNOOC is expected to be shut over the March-April period, while May could also witness some maintenance, albeit at a relatively lower capacity level, latest industry data and information collected by S&P Global Platts showed.