JXTG Holdings Inc., said it resumed full production at its Wakayama refinery’s API Group I base oil plant last month and began exporting product, a company spokesman told Lube Report Asia. The base oil unit had been running at partial capacity since a fire in January 2017.
Capacity remains unchanged, and we want to meet customers needs by providing a wide range of products, the spokesman said. The Wakayama plant can produce 360,000 metric tons per year. The company said it has begun exporting base oil, including to countries in Asia. The integrated fuels and base oils refinery is in Arida city, Wakayama Prefecture, in western Japan.
Two fires broke out in January 2017, damaging No. 2 propane dewaxing and No. 2 n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) extraction equipment at the base oils plant. JXTGs Wakayama refinery is an integrated production center for petroleum products, including lubricants, gasoline, aromatics and specialties.
In February last year, a company spokesman said it planned to resume full production by the end of 2017 after rebuilding equipment damaged by the fire.
TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K. owned the Wakayama refinery at the time of the fire. The company and JX Holdings merged in April 2017 to become Japans largest oil refiner, JXTG Holdings, Inc.
Photo courtesy of JXTG Holdings Inc.
