Nippon Oil to close one CDU at Mizushima - media

TOKYO, July 7 (Reuters) - Japan's biggest refiner, Nippon Oil Corp (5001.T), plans to close one of the two crude distillation units (CDU) at its Mizushima refinery in western Japan, the Asahi newspaper reported on Tuesday.

A Nippon Oil spokesman said the firm has made no such decision.

Weak demand for refined products led Nippon Oil to announce plans to stop production at the 110,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) No.2 CDU at the Mizushima plant from mid-July to curb refining. [ID:nT369361]

A company executive said last month there is a high chance the CDU will remain off line until it begins planned month-long maintenance from mid-October.

Nippon Oil, which plans to merge with smaller refiner Nippon Mining Holdings Inc (5016.T) in April 2010, has a crude refining capacity of 1.317 million barrels per day, more than a quarter of Japan's total crude refining capacity.

Nippon Oil President Shinji Nishio told Reuters last month that after its planned merger the firm might shut 200,000 bpd more capacity by 2015 than its originally planned 400,000 bpd to offset the rapid erosion in demand in Japan. [ID:nT197769] (Reporting by James Topham; Editing by Chris Gallagher)