Japan's JX oil group posts profit despite quake

Japanese oil firm JX Holdings on Thursday posted a group net profit of 311.7 billion yen ($3.8 billion) in the year ended March despite a massive special loss following the March 11 quake-tsunami.

Surging crude oil prices helped the group post the profit as they boosted inventory valuation, said Japan's largest oil refiner by capacity. Operating profit came to 334.4 billion yen on revenue of 9.63 trillion yen.

No year-on-year comparisons were available as the group was created through a merger completed in July last year between Nippon Oil and Nippon Mining.

JX said it incurred special losses of 126 billion yen with two of its eight refineries severely damaged by the twin disasters. It also suspended operation of another refinery temporarily and suffered damage to gas stations and oil tank facilities.

For the current business year, the company expects a net profit of 200 billion yen, down 35.8 percent from the previous year.

President Mitsunori Takahagi said Thursday the firm expected Japanese demand for oil products to keep falling despite the government's plan to review nuclear power usage, which could lead to more burning of fossil fuel.

"It may be necessary to discuss if it (cutting nuclear power capacity sharply) is really the right thing to do for a resources-poor country like Japan," Takahagi said.

AFP