Japan's TonenGeneral says restarts fire-hit CDU

TOKYO, July 7 (Reuters) - Japan's TonenGeneral Sekiyu (5012.T) said on Monday it restarted on Saturday a fire-hit 156,000 barrels-per-day crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Sakai refinery in western Japan as scheduled.

TonenGeneral is an Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) Japan group oil refiner.

"The restart operations are being conducted sequentially," a TonenGeneral spokesman said.

The unit was shut after a fire on Tuesday evening caused minor damage to the CDU, but the local fire department lifted its suspension order on Friday after checking the unit.

TonenGeneral, Japan's second-biggest oil refiner after Nippon Oil Corp (5001.T), said the shutdown had little if any impact on the refinery's oil product shipments. (Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori)