Japan steps up refining-petrochemical integration

摘要

Tokyo is pushing downstream firms to further integrate operations with petrochemicals plants, as it attempts to revitalise both in a shrinking domestic market. Refining remains mostly unprofitable despite more than 1mn b/d of capacity cuts in recent years. JX, Japan’s largest refiner by capacity, saw ex-inventory refining losses widen by ￥1bn ($8mn) to ￥14bn in the first half of the 2014-15 fiscal year ending 30 September.