"Local gasoline demand has almost recovered to the pre-pandemic levels," Tsutomu Sugimori told a news conference.
"Our refinery's run rate is expected to stay at the current levels of between 70% and 80% for the time being, though it will depend on how far demand will recover," Sugimori said.
Eneos' domestic gasoline sales have picked up since October after staying about 10% below the pre-pandemic levels in the April-September half, Sugimori said. Sales in November were 5% below the same month in 2019 and had recovered to 2019 levels in December.
"Still, we are worried that widening restrictions to curb the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant may have a negative impact on demand," he said.
Japan plans to more than double the number of prefectures which are under a quasi-state of emergency to at least 34 due to a rapid resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kyodo news agency said on Monday.
Demand for fuel oil used in power plants rose 120% in the October-December quarter from a year earlier, but Eneos was only able to raise its supply by 60%, Sugimori said.
"But we'll be able to raise our supply by 50% in the January-March quarter to meet all the demand," he said.
Japanese refiners have dusted off unused supply chains for fuel oil last year after receiving requests from electric utilities to supply more fuel oil this winter amid a global crunch for power generation fuels.
Sugimori, also the head of the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ), said oil prices have discounted geopolitical risk from rising tension between Russia and Ukraine, but the market will likely jump further in the event of any real conflict.
Oil prices have hit their highest since October 2014 last week on concerns over tightening supplies. [O/R]
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Christopher Cushing & Simon Cameron-Moore)
By Yuka Obayashi
