Japan's largest oil refiner JXTG Holdings plans to shut down the 115,000 bbl/d refinery jointly owned with PetroChina in Osaka (Japan) in October 2020, citing decreasing demand for oil products in Japan and fiercer competition in Asia. JXTG owns a 51% stake in the joint venture (JV), while PetroChina owns the remaining 49%. The JV agreement will expire in September 2020, and the refinery site will be converted to an asphalt-fired power plant.
The Osaka refinery was commissioned in 1971 and processed crude oil from the Middle East and Asia-Pacific supplied by PetroChina. This refinery closure will reduce Japan's refining capacity, which has already fallen from 5.7 mb/d in 1980 to 3.5 mb/d in 2017 to slightly over 3.4 mb/d in 2020.
JXTG was created in 2017 through the merger of JX Holdings and TonenGeneral. The group controls nearly half of the gasoline and other oil products market in Japan.