Oil refiners led by Nippon Oil Corp. plan to shut down more capacity during the peak spring maintenance season this year, lowering demand for crude oil imports by Japan, the world's third-biggest user.
Japanese refiners will halt 1.2 million barrels a day in the second half of June, 14 percent more than a year earlier, according to a table compiled by industry group the Petroleum Association of Japan. The total represents 25 percent of national refining capacity.
The maintenance will lower Japan's crude imports and may force refiners to buy more oil products to build inventories ahead of the summer driving season. The move comes after 2008 domestic gasoline sales fell 4.2 percent, the most since 1952, and as Tokyo Electric Power Co. comes closer to winning final government approval to restart the world's biggest nuclear power plant, which has been shut since a July 2007 earthquake.