WRAPUP 1-Japan crude imports plunge, crude runs near 13-yr low

* Crude imports down 18.8 pct, the biggest pct fall in 5
yrs

* Weekly refinery runs rise to 64.1 pct, up from 13-yr low

* Japan Energy to cut Q3 refining on weak domestic demand

By Osamu Tsukimori and James Topham

TOKYO, June 24 (Reuters) - A plunge in Japanese crude
imports last month and the hovering of weekly refinery
utilisation rates near a 13-year low show that oil consumption
is still weak, and looks to stay that way in the near term.

The decline of domestic sales in the world's third-biggest
oil consuming nation, already hurt by the ageing population and
a shift among homeowners, business and drivers towards greener
energy, has accelerated in the wake of the financial crisis.

Japan's crude oil imports dropped 18.8 percent in May from
a year earlier, the biggest percentage decline since May 2004,
with shipped in crude falling to 15.051 million kilolitres
(3.05 million barrels per day) last month, the finance ministry
said. [ID:nT49503]

Japan's sluggish economy, wallowing in its worst recession
since World War Two, has sapped industrial demand prompting
domestic refiners to curb crude buys.

Reflecting the weak demand, refiners ran their facilities
at an average 64.1 percent of their combined capacity of 4.83
million bpd in the week to June 20, up for the first time in
six weeks, the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ), an
industry group, said.

The rate was up nearly a percentage point from the week
before, when it was 63.2 percent, the lowest rate since PAJ
began issuing the data in 2003.

The 63.2 percent run rate was the lowest since 62.3 percent
hit in June 1996, the trade ministry's data showed.

A total 894,350 bpd worth of crude distillation units
(CDUs) were idled last week for seasonal maintenance and
unplanned shutdowns, leaving the remaining 3.94 million bpd
capacity in operations, the PAJ data showed.

"We may be past the peak refinery maintenance season," said
Ken Hasegawa, a commodity derivatives sales manager at broker
Newedge in Tokyo.

"Thanks to the refiners' painful efforts on output cuts,
the physical oil prices, especially that of gasoline, have been
supported," he added.

The CDUs in operation ran at a 78.6 percent utilisation
rate last week, the lowest since since the PAJ started
publishing its own data, an industry source said.

The refiners have been trying hard to slash excess oil
inventories to secure stable and higher refining margins.

For graphic on refinery utilisation rate, click:

here

For more graphics tracking PAJ data, click: [ID:nSP196864]

Reflecting the weak demand, crude oil inventories fell 5.3
percent last week to 16.05 million kilolitres (100.95 million
barrels), a four-week low.

Gasoline stocks also fell 0.7 percent to 2.26 million kl
last week, despite sales of the motor fuel 2.9 percent below
the previous year's level, according to Reuters calculations.
For details, click [ID:nT349272])

Total oil sales last week were down 0.9 percent from a year
earlier at 2.73 million barrels per day, while oil product
exports totalled nearly 650,000 barrels per day, a three-month
high, to help curb excessive supplies.
(For full PAJ data, click on [ID:nAPI000412])

Power demand has slumped in Japan as industrial output has
fallen, especially in the steel, auto and machinery sectors,
with electricity production down 8.3 percent in May versus last
year. [ID:nT328399]

Adding pressure to energy consumption, Tokyo Electric Power
Co (9501.T) reopened its quake-shut nuclear plant for the first
time in nearly two years in May, lessening the need for thermal
power generation.

Japan's imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in May fell
18.9 percent from a year ago, while imports of thermal coal
fell 27.0 percent compared to the same period.
(For details on energy imports, click [ID:nT168935])

Major refiners, Nippon Oil Corp (5001.T) and Idemitsu Kosan
Co (5019.T), said last week they were considering idling some
of the refining facilities for a week or more to help curb
brimming oil inventories. [ID:nT95269] [ID:nT65540]

On Wednesday, Japan Energy Corp, the nation's sixth-biggest
oil refiner, said it plans to cut its crude oil processing
volumes for July-September by 9 percent from a year earlier due
to slow domestic demand. [ID:nT178386]

Top Japanese refining executives have said the nation may
be forced to shut in more than a fifth of its 4.8 million
barrel per day refining capacity in the next five years as oil
demand falls faster than expected.

The fall in domestic demand has also led other refiners to
seek other avenues for revenue, such as Showa Shell Sekiyu KK
(5002.T), which said on Wednesday it will start a solar power
project in Saudi Arabia with Saudi Aramco. [ID:nT164026]
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)