Japanese refinery runs averaged 77.3pc in the week to 22 April, higher by 0.1 percentage points from a week earlier.
Crude throughput for the latest week increased by 0.1pc to 2.6mn b/d, while operational capacity increased by 2.3pc to 3.1mn b/d, according to the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ).
Oil product output increased by 11.8pc to 2.6mn b/d. High-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) and gasoil production rose by 74.3pc to 196,000 b/d and 12.4pc to 692,000 b/d, respectively.
Oil product exports declined by 8.1pc to 392,000 b/d, with jet fuel shipments falling by 24.8pc to 141,000 b/d. HSFO exports also dropped by 46pc to 43,000 b/d.
Oil product stocks rose by 0.8pc to 57.4mn bl. Gasoil and HSFO inventories increased by 5.3pc to 8.6mn bl, and by 6.1pc to 7.4mn bl, respectively.
Stocks of unfinished products lowered by 0.4pc to 36.8mn bl, while crude inventories fell by 1.1pc to 70mn bl.
The country's trade and industry ministry (Meti) has set its subsidy for gasoline, gasoil, kerosine and heavy fuel oil at ¥16.80/litre ($20/bl) during 27 April-10 May, down from ¥19/l during 20-26 April. The funding came after Japan's gasoline retail price averaged ¥168.10/l on 24 April. Meti is targeting average gasoline prices of ¥168/l with the subsidy.
| Japanese refinery activity | |||||||
| 22 Apr '23 | 15 Apr '23 | 25 Mar '23 | 7 May '22 | % ± w-o-w | % ± m-o-m | % ± y-o-y | |
| Crude throughput (mn b/d) | 2.57 | 2.57 | 2.59 | 2.86 | 0.11 | -0.58 | -10.03 |
| Refinery runs (%) | 77.30 | 77.21 | 77.75 | 82.76 | 0.09 | -0.45 | -5.46 |
| Operational capacity (mn b/d) | 3.10 | 3.03 | 2.99 | 3.42 | 2.25 | 3.44 | -9.53 |
| Nameplate capacity | 3.33 | 3.33 | 3.33 | 3.46 | 0.00 | 0.00 | -3.68 |
| Crude stocks (mn bl) | 70.05 | 70.85 | 66.50 | 63.68 | -1.13 | 5.34 | 10.00 |
| Total product stocks (mn bl) | 57.39 | 56.94 | 55.02 | 58.40 | 0.78 | 4.30 | -1.73 |
| Total unfinished product stocks (mn bl) | 36.77 | 36.91 | 35.53 | 41.97 | -0.38 | 3.49 | -12.39 |
| Total product output (mn bl) | 18.10 | 16.20 | 17.50 | 17.28 | 11.76 | 3.42 | 4.75 |
| Total product exports (mn bl) | 2.74 | 2.98 | 3.65 | 3.42 | -8.08 | -24.84 | -19.74 |
| Source: Petroleum Association of Japan | |||||||
