More oil on way to Tokyo, quake-hit areas as producers resume ops

TOKYO, March 21 Kyodo - JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. said Monday that its oil refinery in Yokohama, one of Japan's largest such facilities, has resumed production of gasoline and kerosene while other petroleum producers have already done so after halting their operations since the March 11 earthquake.
Officials of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said that gasoline supplies mainly in the greater Tokyo area will likely return to normal within several days.
Active measures are also being taken to ship more gasoline to northeastern Japan, which was hit hardest by the magnitude 9.0 quake.
After the government earlier called on oil companies to mobilize 300 tank trucks to transport gasoline and other petroleum products to the region, 130 such vehicles had been sent there by Sunday.
Japan Freight Railway Co. restarted rail transport of fuel including gasoline from the Tokyo area to northeastern Japan last Friday.
The facility in Aomori Prefecture of Idemitsu Kosan Co., another major oil producer, also began drawing down its inventories Monday to ship 300 kiloliters of diesel oil and other petroleum products per day.
In the meantime, Senior Vice Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry Motohisa Ikeda said the government will allow the oil industry to release an additional 22 days' worth of oil totaling around 9.24 million kiloliters from stockpiles to ease fuel shortages in areas of eastern Japan ravaged by the March 11 earthquake.
Last week, the government decided to allow the industry to release three days' worth of oil, or 1.26 million kl, held in reserve in the form of refined petroleum products such as gasoline and kerosene, relaxing the normal requirement for the maintenance of stocks equivalent to 70 days' worth of the economy's daily oil consumption.
The latest release is the first since 2005, when Japan freed part of its private-sector inventory after Hurricane Katrina ravaged oil production facilities in the United States.