Idemitsu to Shut 3 Refineries for Scheduled Maintenance in 2009

By Yuji Okada and Michio Nakayama

Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Idemitsu Kosan Co., Japan’s second- largest oil refiner, will shut three crude refineries for scheduled maintenance next year.

The company will shut the 220,000 barrels-a-day Chiba refinery near Tokyo from April to May, spokesman Ryuichi Sato said by phone from Tokyo. It will also shut the 140,000 barrels- a-day Hokkaido refinery in the country’s north from June to July, and the 160,000 barrels-a-day Aichi refinery in central Japan from October to November, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michio Nakayama in Tokyo at mnakayama4@bloomberg.net;