Severe cold spells and surging power demand are tightening Japan’s power supply amid declining LNG stocks and low renewable output, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshi Kajiyama said Jan. 12, with utilities undertaking emergency fuel procurement. “Amid severe cold weather, power demand is increasing significantly compared to levels in normal years,” Kajiyama said at .
The declaration of a state of emergency by Japan is expected to cast dark clouds over the country’s gasoline demand, cutting short the prevailing recovery after a long period of gloom. But the same cannot be said for its kerosene consumption as people will have to remain indoors and fight this winter’s biting cold. The .
REFINERY NEWS ROUNDUP: Run rates edge up at China’s state-owned refineries in Nov
China’s state-owned refineries planned to increase crude throughputs in November by an average of one percentage point month on month to 79.8% of capacity, data collected by S&P Global Platts showed.
The state-owned oil giants’ 39 refineries 20 Sinopec refineries, 17 PetroChina refineries, CNOOC’s Huizhou Petrochemical and Sinochem’s Quanzhou Petrochemical planned to process 7.07 million b/d of crude in November, accounting for 79.8% of their combined nameplate capacity of 8.86 million b/d.
China’s independent refineries planned to keep run rates broadly unchanged from October, except Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical, which raised throughput as part of trial runs at its new 10 million mt/year CDU.