TonenGeneral slashes crude capacity at Chiba refinery

TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK said it plans to cut crude oil processing capacity at its 175,000-b/d Chiba refinery Keiyo, Japan, to comply with a 2010 ordinance enacted by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) requiring Japanese refiners to raise their mandatory cracking-to-crude distillation capacity ratio to 13% or higher from 10% by March 2014 (OGJ Online, Dec. 3, 2012).

The company will slash crude processing capacity by the end of this month at subsidiary Kyokuto Petroleum Industries Ltd.’s Chiba refinery by 23,000 b/d to 152,000 b/d, according to TonenGeneral.

Earlier this month, TonenGeneral told investors it also would be decommissioning a 67,000-b/d crude distillation unit at the Kawasaki refinery as well as a 38,000-b/d CDU at its Wakayama refinery to comply with METI’s ordinance (OGJ Online, Mar. 3, 2014).