REFILE-Idemitsu restarted CDU on Saturday after delay

(Corrects tense in headline)

TOKYO Aug 10 (Reuters) - Idemitsu Kosan Co (5019.T), Japan's third-largest refiner, said it restarted a 140,000 barrels-per-day crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Hokkaido refinery in northern Japan on Saturday, after delaying the restart due to weak domestic demand.

Japan's third-largest refiner completed scheduled maintenance on the CDU at the end of July but had delayed the restart as part of plans to refine 13 percent less crude oil this month than a year earlier.

Idemitsu plans to refine 2.50 million kilolitres or about 507,000 bpd of crude in August, down 400,000 kl from the same month a year earlier. The delayed restart of the CDU accounted for about 20 percent of the refining cuts.

Depressed domestic demand and weaker export markets for refined products led the oil firm to delay the restart until early August to help cut crude and oil product stockpiles.

The company is also considering moving up the start of scheduled maintenance on its 160,000 bpd Aichi refinery in western Japan by 10 days to September to reduce output.

Industry sources have said maintenance on the Aichi refinery was originally scheduled from Oct. 1 to Nov. 23.

The company has four refineries in Japan with total crude refining capacity of 640,000 barrels per day. (Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)