Japan's crude runs recover to 13-week high at 71.7%

Tokyo — Japan's crude run rates in the week ended Nov. 14 shot up to 71.7%, the highest in 13 weeks since its mid-August peak during the summer driving season, as refiners raised their crude throughput for the upcoming winter heating demand season.

The crude run rates rose from 68.4% in the previous week as Japanese refiners raised their crude throughput by 4.7% to 2.48 million b/d, data released Nov. 18 by the Petroleum Association of Japan showed.

The Nov. 8-14 run rate was the highest since the week ended Aug. 15 when runs stood at 71.8%. Japan's installed refining capacity, however, fell from 3.5188 million b/d to 3.4578 million b/d as of Oct. 8 due to nameplate capacity changes at ENEOS refineries.

The increase in refinery runs came after Cosmo Oil restarted its sole 86,000 b/d crude distillation unit at its Yokkaichi refinery on Nov. 9 after completing scheduled maintenance. This followed the Nov. 5 restart of ENEOS' 120,000 b/d No. 1 CDU at its 270,000 b/d Negishi refinery after a planned turnaround.

Accelerating shipments

Japan's kerosene stocks fell 5% week on week to 17.39 million barrels on Nov. 14, the PAJ said Nov. 14, because of the country's accelerating shipments of the heating oil.

The country's estimated domestic kerosene shipments surged 59.6% week on week to 2.48 million barrels in the week to Nov. 14, according to S&P Global Platts calculations based on PAJ data.

The estimated Nov. 8-14 kerosene shipments were highest since March 1-7 when the shipments stood at 2.71 million barrels, Platts calculations showed.

Estimated domestic kerosene shipments had soared 66.5% in four weeks to 6.51 million barrels Nov. 14, up from 3.91 million barrels in the previous four weeks to Oct. 17, according to Platts calculations.

The strong prompt demand is slowing Japan's stockpiling of kerosene. The Nov. 14 kerosene stocks fell 1.4% from a year ago, according to Platts data.