Japan Cosmo Oil to suspend bunker shipments from Sakaide in second week of September

Japanese refiner Cosmo Oil plans to suspend shipments of bunker fuel from storage tanks at Sakaide in western Japan in the second week of September because of construction works, a company source said Thursday.
Cosmo Oil stopped operations at the 140,000 b/d Sakaide refinery in July, and is using the site as an oil terminal.
The company needs to adjust some facilities to use more tanks for storage, the source said.
Cosmo Oil ships about 10,000 mt/month of bunker fuel from storage at Sakaide, industry sources said.
There will be little impact from the suspension because other refiners can supply the fuel, said a bunker trader based in Tokyo.
Japan sells 300,000-350,000 mt/month of bunker fuel, while Cosmo Oil supplies about 40,000 mt/month from Sakaide, 175,000 b/d from the Yokkaichi refinery in central Japan and 100,000 b/d from the Sakai refinery in the west.
Source: Platts