Nippon Oil, Mining to Shed 20% Capacity by March

(Bloomberg) — Nippon Oil Corp. and Nippon Mining Holdings Inc., set to merge in April, will shut three oil refining units and cut capacity at another plant by March 2011 as fuel demand shrinks in the world

The two companies aim to shed 600,000 barrels a day, or about one-third of capacity, by March 2015 and save 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion) a year. Demographic changes such as an ageing population and a move to energy conservation have driven down fuel demand, making one-third of the country