Japan’s refinery utilization rate near 3-year high

Industry data shows that Japan’s refinery utilization rate rose to a near three-year high of 89.8% in 2011, up 1.2 percentage points, during the week of February 26, in preparation for refinery turnarounds in March. These numbers reflect the highest run rate since March 2008, when it reached 90%. These higher runs indicate a decline in Japan’s refining capacity by 280,000 barrels per day. According to the Petroleum Association of Japan, commercial crude inventories dropped 1.6% or 233,000 kiloliters to 14.7 million kiloliters during the said period. Gasoline stocks fell 2.2% from the week before to a six-week low of 2.24 million kiloliters. (March 2, 2011)