MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan’s biggest refiner, Eneos Corp, permanently shut the 115,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) crude distillation unit at its Osaka refinery on September 30 as planned, a company spokeswoman said, said Reuters.
The refiner, which was formerly known as JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corp and is now under Eneos Holdings Inc, is shifting its joint venture with PetroChina Co to Eneos’ Chiba refinery after shutting the venture’s Osaka refinery.
Eneos also shut the 127,500 bpd CDU at its Wakayama refinery on Sept. 27 for scheduled maintenance, with a plan to restart in early December, the spokeswoman said.
The company also shut the 120,000 bpd No.1 CDU at its Negishi refinery on Sept. 25, with an aim to resume operations in early November.
As MRC informed earlier, Eneos (formerly JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy), part of Eneos Holding, a major petrochemicals producer in Japan, set its October contract price for benzene in Asia at USD425 per tonne, up USD20 per tonne from the contract price in September. The price has been approved on CFR Asia delivery terms.
Benzene is a raw material for the production of styrene, which, in turn, is the main raw material for the production of polystyrene (PS).
As per ICIS-MRC Price Report, the high impact polystyrene (HIPS) and general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) market
participants in Russia said demand for material remained strong amid its shortage. Large buyers were generally provided with material according to their needs, whereas small ones could not fully meet their needs, as there were no free quantities of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's polystyrene (PS) for injection moulding, extrusion and production of XPS-boards at the beginning of autumn.
Eneos Holding (formerly known as JXTG) is Japan's largest oil company. Its activities include the exploration, import and refining of crude oil; production and sale of petroleum products (ethylene, propylene, butadiene, styrene, paraxylene, orthoxylene, etc.), including fuels and lubricants. In recent years, the company has been expanding its production facilities in other countries. Its products are sold under the ENEOS brand. On June 25, 2020, JXTG, founded in April 2017 after the merger of two Japanese companies, JX Holding and TonenGeneral, changed its name to Eneos Holdings, while its subsidiary JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy changed its name to Eneos.
MRC