* 85,000 bpd No.6 CDU at Yokkaichi refinery to stay shut
* Cosmo cuts crude refining plans for Oct-Dec further
(Adds table)
TOKYO, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Japan's fourth-biggest refiner
Cosmo Oil Co Ltd (5007.T) said on Wednesday it would idle the
85,000 barrels per day (bpd) No.6 crude distillation unit (CDU)
at its Yokkaichi refinery until January or afterwards due to
slow demand.
The effective mothballing of the CDU as part of a plan to
deepen refining curbs is the first since top refiner Nippon Oil
Corp (5001.T) decided to keep the 110,000 bpd CDU at its
Mizushima refinery shut until the end of March.
Cosmo Oil's Managing Director, Satoshi Miyamoto, told
reporters the company aims to restart the CDU in January but
indicated that this could be delayed further if demand continues
to weaken.
The CDU, which has been shut since Oct. 2 for a planned
maintenance, was originally scheduled to be restarted on Nov.
28.
Cosmo Oil cut its crude oil processing volumes for
October-December by 7.8 percent from the same period a year
earlier, more than a previously planned cut of 4 percent,
reflecting weak domestic demand.
The oil firm said it plans to refine 6.201 million
kilolitres (423,946 barrels per day) of crude oil in the fourth
quarter. It said in September, it expected to refine 6.457
million kilolitres (441,500 bpd) of crude oil in the
October-December period.
Following is the company's refining plan for November and
December in kl and percentage changes from a year earlier.
Volume % Change
November 2.204 mln kl -5.1
December 2.394 mln kl -5.3
(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori)
