Nippon Oil Corp, Japan’s largest refiner, said it planned to refine 4.4 million kilolitres, or about 923,000 barrels per day (bpd), of crude oil in September compared with an estimated 5.3 million kl, or about 1.075 million bpd, last month.

The planned September crude run is up seven per cent from a year earlier, Nippon Oil managing director Naokazu Tsuda said.
Nippon Oil has a total processing capacity of 1.217 million bpd.
The month-on-month reduction in September is due to scheduled shutdowns, a Nippon Oil spokesman said.
Nippon plans to shut the No 3 crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Mizushima refinery, western Japan, up to September 26 for scheduled maintenance. The unit has a capacity of 140,000 bpd.
Another scheduled maintenance shutdown is planned at the 150,000-bpd No 4 CDU at its Negishi refinery, eastern Japan, from September 16 to October 25, the spokesman said.
Nippon Oil plans to export 50,000 kl of jet fuel to the United States in September, down from 140,000 kl in August.
“We exported jet fuel because of good prices in overseas markets, but we also have to pay attention to building kerosene inventories,” Tsuda said.
Jet fuel, which is similar to kerosene, is used to fuel airplanes, while kerosene is used for heating. By making less jet fuel, Nippon can divert resources to kerosene production.
Tsuda said Japan’s kerosene inventories were unlikely to increase to four million kl, which the Japanese oil industry considers sufficient, by the end of September.
Nippon also plans to export 10,000 kl of gas oil to South Korea in September, the same as August. The refiner plans to import 60,000 kl of gasoline from Singapore in September, down slightly from 70,000 kl in August.