Nippon Oil to close Toyama refinery

Nippon Oil Corp. said it will terminate the operations of its refinery in Toyama Prefecture at the end of January rather than the end of March as announced earlier. The termination of operations is being brought forward due to a larger-than-anticipated drop in domestic demand for oil, Japan’s biggest oil distributor said. Following the termination of refining operations, the facility will be used by the Nippon Oil group as a storage terminal for petroleum products prior to shipment, while the group will continue to operate seven refineries in Japan, according to Nippon Oil. (January 13, 2009)