TOKYO: Japan's commercial crude inventories rose 3 percent last week from the previous week, while kerosene stocks fell for a fifth-straight week due to robust demand for winter heating oil amid colder-than-normal weather, industry data showed on Wednesday.
Crude stocks in the world's third-biggest oil consumer increased by 450,000 kilolitres (2.8 million barrels) in the week to Feb. 11 from the week before to 16.2 million kl (102.1 million barrels) , the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ) said.
Kerosene stocks fell by 0.96 million barrels to 12.2 million barrels, which was steady from a year earlier. A month ago, kerosene inventories had accumulated to about 25 percent above the year-earlier level, but the stockpiles have been drawn down since then due to chillier weather.
Gasoline sales last week were 10 percent below the previous year's level but kerosene demand rose 28 percent, reflecting colder-than-normal weather, Reuters calculations showed. (For details see table below.)
The refinery utilisation rate fell 3.2 percentage points to 85.4 percent last week, reflecting a turnaround at JX Nippon Oil's 127,000 barrels per day Marifu refinery from Feb. 4 to March 9.
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