Dieser Trend wird sich noch verstärken - daher ist eher von schwächeren Rohölpreisen auszugehen.
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K C
07/26 04:18
Nippon Oil to Cut August Processing 10% Year-on-Year (Update2)
By Miho Yoshizaki
Tokyo, July 26 (Bloomberg) -- Nippon Oil Corp., Japan's top crude oil refiner, said it plans to cut processing by 10 percent in August from a year ago because of falling fuel oil sales as power stations shift to cheaper natural gas and coal.
The Tokyo-based company plans to process 4.4 billion liters next month (893,000 barrels a day). Nippon Oil said in a statement it expects Japan's demand for fuel oil used to fire boilers, known as type-C heavy oil, to fall 60 percent to about 450 million liters this month (91,000 barrels a day) from July 2001.
``It has no choice but to cut processing because fuel oil demand from electric power companies is so awful,'' said Hirofumi Kawachi, an energy company analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co., who rates Nippon Oil ``neutral plus.'' ``It can't reduce production of only type-C oil in the process of crude oil refining.''
Japan's crude oil imports slumped 10 percent in June, dragging first-half figures to the lowest in 12 years as the third recession in a decade cut demand and some power plants switched to natural gas.
Oil imports by the world's second-biggest oil consumer fell 9.6 percent in the first half to an average 3.91 million barrels a day, the finance ministry said. That's lower than any half-year period since 1990, according to trade ministry figures. June imports dropped twice as much as analysts expected to 3.19 million barrels a day, the lowest since April 1991.
Japan's crude oil imports are likely to decline by 5 percent this year, from 4.28 million barrels a day last year, according to a Bloomberg survey of four oil analysts. The Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry, which oversees the oil industry, will release its June import data later this month.
Nippon Oil shares fell to the lowest price since Feb. 8, dropping 24 yen, or 4.3 percent, to 534.
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