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Japan’s Eneos scraps Wakayama refinery capacity

  • Märkte: Crude oil, Oil products
  • 18.10.23

Eneos, Japan's largest refiner by capacity, has permanently closed its 120,000 b/d Wakayama refinery on the back of shrinking domestic oil product demand.

Eneos on 16 October shut refining operations at the refinery in west Japan Wakayama prefecture that started up in 1941. The company had been operating 10 refineries until the closure, with Wakayama its oldest refinery. Eneos' refining capacity is now reduced to 1.62mn b/d, which is 51pc of Japan's total of 3.21mn b/d.

The Wakayama site will be transformed into a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant after the closure. It targets to produce 400,000 kilolitres/yr (7,000 b/d) of SAF with a start-up targeting 2026. Eneos and the local government of Wakayama prefecture are also considering other alternatives at the site such as renewable energy and hydrogen, although the details have not been decided yet, Eneos said.

Shrinking domestic demand has driven Eneos' refining consolidation, along with a strategy to diversify its business away from fossil fuels. The firm closed a 120,000 b/d crude distillation unit at its Negishi refinery in October 2022, while the 115,000 b/d Osaka refinery was shut in October 2020.


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