Tokyo (Platts)--5Feb2013/529 am EST/1029 GMT

Japan's JX Nippon Oil & Energy sold a total 44.04 million kiloliters, or 1.01 million b/d, of oil products in the domestic market over April-December 2012, up 5.3% year on year, JX Holdings, the parent company of the largest Japanese refiner, said Tuesday.

In the nine months to December 31, JX sold 5.66 million kl or 129,000 b/d of fuel oil for power generation, up 43.3% from a year ago, the company said.

Its fuel oil sales to non-power sectors, however, slid 7% year on year to 1.98 million kl or 45,000 b/d over the period.

JX sold 3.78 million kl or 86,000 b/d of crude oil "mainly as direct burning feedstock for power generation" over April-December, up 32.2% year on year, a company official said.

Article continues below...

Sign up to Oilgram News today.
	Oilgram News brings fast-breaking global petroleum and gas news to your desktop every day. Our extensive global network of correspondents report on supply and demand trends, corporate news, government actions, exploration, technology, and much more.

Japanese refiners have been facing higher demand for both crude and fuel oil for thermal power generation, to make up for a shortfall in nuclear output after the March 2011 earthquake.

JX's oil product exports jumped 12.8% year on year to 7.51 million kl, or 172,000 b/d, in the nine months to December 31, the company said.

Meanwhile, according to JX's estimates, Japan's domestic oil demand was 144.440 million kl, or 3.30 million b/d, over April-December, up 2.7% from a year ago.

Its domestic oil market share also rose to 36.2% in the nine months to December 31, up from 35.3% a year ago, JX added.

JX Holdings had 11,516 branded service stations at the end of December -- roughly 42% of the total 27,215 service stations owned by local Japanese refiners, and 32% of the total 35,500 service stations, including private brands, in the country, the company said.

JX Holdings' average refining run rate came in at 87% in the April-December period, the company said.

The revenue from its oil refining business rose 5.6% year on year to Yen 6.9744 trillion ($75.5 billion) in April-December.

Its refining segment's ordinary profit dropped 61.7% from a year ago to Yen 61 billion in the nine-month period as a result of deteriorating margins for oil products and petrochemicals, the company said. Stripping out inventory valuations, the refining segment's profit came in at Yen 72.8 billion, down 13.8% from a year ago.

On November 2, JX said it will suspend refining operations at its 180,000 b/d Muroran refinery in Hokkaido, northern Japan at the end of March 2014 as part of its mid-term business plan to respond to diminishing domestic oil demand.

The 180,000 b/d refining capacity at Muroran accounts for roughly 13% of JX's total refining capacity of 1.392 million b/d. Its total refining capacity will fall to 1.212 million b/d as of the end of March 2014.

The company will convert the refinery into an oil terminal and petrochemical plant from June 2014, it added.

--Takeo Kumagai, takeo_kumagai@platts.com
--Edited by Geetha Narayanasamy, geetha_narayanasamy@platts.com

Tweet