Japan's JX plans to boost December crude refining by 6%
TOKYO (Reuters) -- Japan's JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp said on Wednesday that it would boost the amount of crude it refines for local consumption by 6% in December from the year before.
The country's top refiner said it would refine 1.14 million barrels per day of crude for domestic consumption, up on last December due to problems at multiple refineries at that time.
"December is expected to stay cold, so we expect kerosene sales to stay strong," a company spokesman said, adding that it stood ready to boost refining volumes, curb oil product exports or buy oil supplies domestically if warranted by levels of demand.
The company does not have scheduled refinery maintenance planned over the rest of the year, he added.
JX's November crude refining for domestic consumption was estimated at 1.05 million bpd, up 5% from the year-earlier period. That was higher than an original plan of 1.04 million bpd due to robust kerosene sales amid cold winter weather, the spokesman said.
The refiner has 1.43 million bpd of crude refining capacity, or 37.6% of Japan's total.
Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Joseph Radford
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