Cosmo Oil Company Explained

Cosmo Energy Holdings Co., Ltd.
Native Name:コスモエナジーホールディングス株式会社
Native Name Lang:ja
Romanized Name:Kosumo Enajī Hōrudingusu kabushiki gaisha
Type:Public KK
Foundation:merger of Maruzen Petroleum and Daikyo Petroleum
Location:Shibaura, Minato, Tokyo, Japan
Key People:Yaichi Kimura
(Chairman)
Keizo Morikawa
(President and CEO)
Industry:Oil and gas
Services:Filling stations
Revenue: JPY 3,537 billion (FY 2013) (US$ 34.3 billion) (FY 2013)
Net Income: JPY 4.34 billion (FY 2013) (US$ 42.1 million) (FY 2013)
Num Employees:1,837 (consolidated, as of March 31, 2014)
Owner:Infinity Alliance Limited (20.76%)
Footnotes:[1]

is a Japanese petrochemical company. It is Japan's third-biggest refiner by sales after JX Holdings and Idemitsu Kosan.[2]

History

Cosmo in Japan traces its corporate roots to Maruzen Petroleum (丸善石油株式会社), a company established in 1931, although the oil business operated by Maruzen was originally established by Zenzo Matsumura in Kobe in 1907.

Cosmo Oil Company was formed on April 1, 1986, through the merger of Maruzen Petroleum and Daikyo Petroleum, a group of oil businesses based in Niigata Prefecture, which merged in 1939.

A major fire occurred at the Cosmo refinery in Ichihara, as a result of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake.[3] [4] [5] It was extinguished after ten days, injuring six people and destroying storage tanks[6] The ultimate cause was traced to the collapse of supports for LPG Tank 364, which had been filled with water and undergoing hydrostatic testing at the time the earthquake struck. The collapse fractured LPG pipes, releasing gas that then ignited, in turn igniting LPG in several adjacent tanks.[7]

In February 2015, the company said it will reorganize itself under a holding company to boost profitability.[2] Also in 2015, in March, Cosmo Oil formed an LPG joint-venture, by merging its LPG business with three other company's LPG units. The new company, named Gyxis Corporation, started effective operations on April 1, 2015.[8] Along Cosmo, the other three shareholding companies are Showa Shell Sekiyu, TonenGeneral Sekiyu, and Sumitomo Corporation, all with 25% of the ownership.[9]

Refineries

Cosmo operates three refineries, all of which are located in Japan:[10]

In August 2012, the company announced that it will close its Sakaide plant in southwest Japan.[11] The refinery, which was closed and turned into an oil terminal in July 2013,[10] was a former Asia Oil refinery with a capacity of 120000oilbbl/d.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Company Profile . Cosmo Oil . 28 March 2015.
  2. News: Japan's Cosmo Oil to set up holding firm in Oct . https://web.archive.org/web/20150402135303/http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL4N0VF3ZY20150205 . dead . 2 April 2015 . Tsukimori . Osamu . Sheldrick . Aaron . Nair . Sunil . Reuters Africa . 5 February 2015 . . 28 March 2015.
  3. News: Japan earthquake causes oil refinery inferno . https://web.archive.org/web/20110313123422/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8375497/Japan-earthquake-causes-oil-refinery-inferno.html . dead . March 13, 2011 . . London . 11 March 2011 . 12 March 2011.
  4. Web site: Natural gas storage tanks burn at Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara city . Reuters AlertNet . . 11 March 2011 . 12 March 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110314063504/http://www.trust.org/alertnet/multimedia/pictures/detail.dot?mediaInode=50cde84c-27ff-443c-8ffc-1183be4ce4c2 . 14 March 2011 .
  5. News: After 8.9 quake, explosion hits pchem complex in Japan . Eric . Watkins . . . Los Angeles . 11 March 2011 . 28 March 2015.
  6. Web site: LPG Tanks Fire Extinguished at Chiba Refinery (5th Update) . 21 March 2011 . Cosmo Oil . 28 March 2015.
  7. Web site: Overview of the Fire and Explosion at Chiba Refinery, the Cause of the Accident and the Action Plan to Prevent Recurrence . Cosmo Oil Co., Ltd. . 2011-08-02 . 2017-10-25.
  8. Web site: Japanese Companies Pool LPG Sectors . 12 March 2015 . World Maritime News . 28 March 2015.
  9. News: Four Japanese companies form an LPG importer . Crystal Chan . 12 March 2015 . IHS Maritime 360 . . 28 March 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150402210854/http://www.ihsmaritime360.com/article/17053/four-japanese-companies-form-an-lpg-importer . 2 April 2015 . dead .
  10. News: Japan's Cosmo Oil to permanently shut Sakaide refinery in July '13 . 28 August 2012 . . . 28 March 2015.
  11. News: Japan's Cosmo to close Sakaide refinery in July 2013 . Tsukimori . Osamu . Watson . Michael . 28 August 2012 . . . 28 March 2015.