Japan's Tonen General to resume operations at Kawasaki refinery

15 March 2011 05:42  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS)--Japanese refiner Tonen General Sekiyu is in the process of resuming full operations at its Kawasaki refinery days after the earthquake, the company said in a statement late on Monday.

The refiner had suspended operations of major units at its Kawasaki refinery in Kanagawa prefecture on 11 March, several hours after the 9.0-magnitude quake hit northeast Japan, it said in an earlier statement last Friday.

The company’s 515,000 tonne/year cracker in Kawasaki had been running at reduced rate earlier on Monday, market sources said.

The refineries in Wakayama and Sakai were fully operational and making effort to support additional gasoline production, the company said.

All terminals of Tonen General were operating normally with the exception of the Shiogama terminal at Sendai in Miyagi prefecture, which had suspended operations following the quake, the refiner said.

Shipping was disrupted by the quake and tsunami, but was gradually returning to normal, Tonen General added.

The quake struck Japan’s northeast coast some 373 km (232 miles) northeast of Tokyo, and 130km east of Sendai in Honshu, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

No injuries or damages to the company’s assets have been reported, Tonen General said last Friday.

Meanwhile, many areas in the Kanto region, including Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures, have been experiencing scheduled power outages since Monday as a result of electricity shortages following explosions at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture.

Tonen General was maximizing its on-site power production to assist in supplying power to the Kanto area, the refiner said.

By: Tomomi Yokomura
+65 6780 4359

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