Japan’s ENEOS shuts Sendai refinery after 13 February earthquake

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Japanese refiner ENEOS Corp has shut its 145,000 bbl/day refinery in Sendai following the 13 February earthquake that hit off the coast of eastern Japan, a company spokesperson said on Monday.

The crude distillation unit (CDU) is still shut “and restart schedule is not fixed yet”, the spokesperson told ICIS.

“After the earthquake, some facilities at Negishi stopped due to black out,” he added without elaborating.

ENEOS produces aromatics – benzene, mixed xylene, toluene – as well as propylene and base oils at its site in Negishi, according to ICIS data.

More than 100 people were injured due to the quake that hit late Saturday night, which also caused widespread power outages.

The 7.3-magnitude tremblor occurred on 13 February at around 23:08 Japan time (14:08 GMT), hitting the Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures, the same areas hit by the massive quake about 10 years ago that had triggered a tsunami.

“This earthquake is considered to be an aftershock of the [March] 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake,” according to Japan’s Meteorological Agency.

No abnormalities were noted at the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plants after the strong quake, the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings had said.

Additional reporting by Samuel Wong

Photo: A damaged building after an earthquake in Soma City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, 14 February 2021. (By CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA/Shutterstock)