Soon-to-be-shuttered Japanese refining complex to become carbon-free energy hub

Seibu Oil Co. Ltd. is proceeding with the permanent shutdown of subsidiary Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd.’s 120,000-b/d Yamaguchi refining complex that spreads across Ube City and Sanyo-Onoda City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan, and transforming the site into a regional industrial hub for supply of carbon-free energy (OGJ Online, June 14, 2022).

Following suspension of refining operations still on schedule to occur in March 2024, Idemitsu Kosan will convert the Yamaguchi location into a base for locally produced and consumed carbon-free energy supply and resource recycling by the 2030s as part of the operator’s broader corporate decarbonization strategy amid declining domestic demand for petroleum products in line with the global energy transition, Idemitsu Kosan and Seibu said on Jan. 22.

Capitalizing on the site’s existing hydrocarbon technology and infrastructure, the conversion program—known as Green Transformation West (GX West)—will be executed as part of a comprehensive tripartite partnership Idemitsu Kosan and Seibu have recently entered with Sanyo-Onoda City, the latter of which involves participation by Yamaguchi Prefecture, Tokyo University of Science, and local businesses, according to the companies.

The GX West program specifically will entail three pillars:

• Expanding supply of carbon-free energy, which includes increasing generation of electricity from solar panels and hydrogen power, as well as forming networks for delivery of power supplies to nearby residents and businesses.
• Developing, testing, and promoting via industry-academia-government collaboration new technologies and services that contribute to decarbonization, including novel technologies for mass production of carbon-free energy.
• Establishing a biomass and resource recycling center to convert locally sourced waste into renewable fuels, chemicals, and other products to help create a circular economy in the region.

With phased removal of existing refinery equipment and acquisition of necessary land for new businesses at the proposed hub scheduled to be completed by about 2030, Idemitsu Kosan and Seibu said they plan to begin work on the site’s carbon-free power supply, technology development-testing, and biomass-resource recycling centers beginning in the late 2020s.

The companies said launch of the GX West program aligns with their broader corporate vision targeting a system-wide business restructuring aimed at achieving carbon neutrality while also remaining competitive to ensure a stable energy supply along the shared journey to a decarbonized future.

Additional details regarding the Yamaguchi site’s proposed clean-energy transformation have yet to be revealed.