Japan's gasoline prices rose last week, refinery runs declined (updated)

ENEOS Holdings

11/03/2026 10:04

Adds two bullets at the bottom

TOKYO, March 11 (Reuters) - Retail gasoline prices in Japan rose by 3.3 yen to 161.8 yen ($1.02) per litre as of March 9, the first week of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which disrupted oil supplies from the Middle East, data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed on Wednesday.

The price is now the highest since December last year, the data showed.

Japan eliminated the 25.1 yen per litre tax on gasoline and 17.1 yen per litre tax on diesel at the end of last year. The measure saw retail gasoline prices coming down before the Iran war-driven increase last week.

Diesel prices rose to 149.8 yen per litre, the highest since November, the data showed.

Japan's refinery runs reduced to 77.6% of the designed capacity for the week ended on March 7, down from 82.7% a week before, data from the Petroleum Association of Japan showed separately on Wednesday.

Stocks of gasoline were down 4%, kerosene down 10% and diesel down 12%, PAJ data showed, while jet fuel stocks were up by 4%.

Eneos Holdings 5020.T, Japan's largest refining company, has notified its counterparties of the plans to raise wholesale gasoline prices by 26 yen per litre for March 12-18, amid rising global oil prices, Nikkei reported.

Japan imports around 95% of its oil needs from the Middle East.

($1 = 158.0500 yen)

(Reporting by Katya Golubkova and Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Harikrishnan Nair)

((jekaterina.golubkova@thomsonreuters.com;))