Nippon Oil sees Nov crude runs dipping 1 pct

Reuters - Wednesday, October 28

* Nov crude refining seen at 4.82 mln kl, down 1 pct y/y

* Oct crude runs estimated down 14 pct y/y at 4.36 mln kl

TOKYO, Oct 27 - Japan's Nippon Oil Corp <5001.T> will refine 1 percent less crude oil in November than a year ago, a slower annual decline than in October, bouncing back from heavy plant maintenance in November last year.

The Asian nation's biggest refiner said on Tuesday it plans to process 4.82 million kilolitres (1.01 million barrels per day) of crude oil in November.

Nippon Oil previously announced its refining volume plan for only domestic demand, but changed the release this month to include the crude it refines for exports, petrochemicals, and power generation, bringing its reporting practice in line with other Japanese oil firms.

While the total refining volume plan for November is only slightly down from last year, it is down 16 percent from two years ago, Masahito Nakamura, a company senior vice president, told reporters.

Japan has seen a big drop in oil demand this year as the worldwide recession has accelerated already declining demand from a greying population and a push towards greener energy, leading refiners to curb production.

Nippon Oil's total crude refining volume in October was estimated at 4.36 million kl, down 14 percent from the year-earlier period, due to scheduled maintenance at some refineries.

The oil firm shut a 110,000 bpd crude distillation unit at its Mizushima refinery in western Japan in July to offset the weak demand, and said earlier this month it will keep the unit shut until the end of March 2010 if demand remains stagnant. [ID:nT74713]

In October, Nippon Oil estimated it bought a total of 50,000 kl of middle distillates from the domestic market and exported a total of 270,000 kl of middle distillates and fuel oil.

Nippon Oil, which plans to merge with smaller refiner Nippon Mining Holdings Inc <5016.T> in April 2010, has a crude refining capacity of 1.317 million barrels per day, more than a quarter of Japan's total crude refining capacity.