Monster quake wreaks havoc on Japan’s refining industry
An 8.9-magintude earthquake caused catastrophic damage to Japan’s northern Pacific coast on March 10. Occurring late afternoon, the first massive quake struck 400 km northeast of Tokyo and was followed by aftershocks. The immense quake triggered a colossal 10-meter tsunami that caused widespread flooding and destruction.
According to an online article by MarketWatch, Cosmo Oil Co.’s 222,000-bpd refinery in Chiba, northeast of Tokyo, caught on fire due to the quake and after shocks. JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. halted operations at three of its refineries in three cities; a total of 600,000 bpd refining capacity for JX Nippon was closed.
In response, to the refining capacity closures in Japan, crude oil in New York fell the most in almost four months after Japan’s strongest earthquake. Japan is the world’s third-largest oil-consuming country.
Japan consumed 4.42 million bpd of oil in 2010, according to data from the International Energy Agency’s Feb. 10 Monthly Oil Market Report, according to Bloomberg online release. China used 9.39 million barrels and the U.S. consumed 19.25 million, the agency said.
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