Nippon Oil to shutter Toyama refinery

April 11, 2008
Nippon Oil, Japan's largest refiner, will shutter its smallest refinery, the 60,000 b/d Toyama facility operated by unit Nihonkai Oil Co., according to press reports.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Apr. 11 -- Nippon Oil Corp., Japan's largest refiner, will shutter its smallest refinery, the 60,000 b/d Toyama facility operated by subsidiary Nihonkai Oil Co. Ltd., according to press reports. The facility will be converted to a site for importing oil products from other Nippon refineries in Japan.

When the 40-year-old refinery on Japan's west coast is shut down by the end of March 2009, it will become the first Japanese refinery to be mothballed since 2003. The reasons for its closure include high costs, overcapacity, and diminished demand in the world's third-largest oil-consuming nation.

Closure was first considered last year because the refinery cannot process heavier grades of crude. The subsequent spike in crude prices has since reduced its profitability even more.