Analysis of Current Situation of Oil Distribution and Pricing Mechanisms in Asia

The demand for oil products in Asia, particularly in China and India, is now growing strongly. The demand is estimated to rise to 29.9 million b/d by 2015, demonstrating growth of 15% (approximately 3.9 million b/d) compared to 26 million b/d in 2009. As for supply, until 2008, Asian countries had strived to upgrade their refining capacities only proportionate to demand. Contrary to this, large-scale projects to upgrade facilities undertaken by China and India in 2009 pushed up the refining capacity to 28 million b/d, outpacing demand by 2 million b/d. China and India have plans to upgrade their refining capacities by 3.3 million b/d and 1.2 million b/d by 2015, respectively, which means that supply will surpass demand (29.9 million b/d) by 3 million b/d by 2015. These facts reveal the issue of overcapacity of refining facilities. It is important for the Japanese oil refining sector to curtail such overcapacity so as to achieve an optimal supply-demand balance, to promote trading of products with an emphasis on Japan's advantages, and thereby to reinforce its international competitiveness. Major Asian countries can be divided into two categories in accordance with their oil pricing mechanisms : i.e. countries where oil price is determined based on the free market mechanism, such as Japan, South Korea, etc; and countries where the oil pricing mechanism is regulated by the government, such as China, Taiwan, India, etc. It is important to keep a close watch on the countries with a regulated pricing mechanism, as the recent trend shows that these countries will take steps for deregulation in the future. Oil pricing is closely connected to demand. The climate of demand is the key factor for determining a profitable price. The Japanese oil sectors will need to strive to eliminate the factors which would be obstacles to fair pricing, by means of addressing the overcapacity so as to achieve an optimal supply-demand balance and coming up with effective frameworks to ensure a sound market. In addition, in order for the Japanese oil sectors to sustain their supply chains while maintaining an optimal supply-demand balance, they would need to move ahead to take restructuring steps including a new pricing mechanism so as to attain both "adequate refining margin" and "shortening time lags."oil demand, Asia, oil refining sector

A Trial for the Rapid Determination of Volcanic Rocks: The relation of the refractive indices of melted rock-glasses to their chemical compositions

It becomes evident that the refractive indices of artificially prepared rock-glasses easily by melting in the flame of oxygen-gas have an intimate relation to their chemical compositions, being clearly shown on certain smooth curves. As to some of the Tertiary calc-alkalic rocks obtained from the San-in district, is their interrelation inspected practically in the present paper. The method hereunder referred to may be utilizable to determine rapidly a large number of volcanic rocks such as tuffs or tuff-breccias

Volcanostratigraphical Study on the Miocene Volcanism in the Shimane Prefecture, Japan

There may be no doubt in that the volcanostratigraphical method, as well as any other means so far ordinarily applied, is also to play an important role in the research of sedimentary formations intercalated with more or less amounts of pyroclastic rocks. From this point of view, the author here intends to report an outline of the study in relation to the regions composed of so-called "Green Tuff" in the San-in province. Basing on the activities and petrographical features of respective volcanics, inspection for several volcanisms appeared in the related basin has been carried out, illustrating that the volcanics concerned are, in general, represented either by the calcic series that might have been active through the periods from the middle to the upper Miocene or by the alkaline suite that might have begun to extrude in the lower Pliocene after a very long and silent interval nearly at the close of the former eruption. Both mineralogical and petrochemical characteristics of the calcic series have been specifically pursued for scrutiny in comparison to other kinds of volcanics found scattered in the same province. In consequence, it has become clear that the activities of the series in question should be classified into three cycles, each of which might be represented distinctively by a formation composed of the pyro-clastics showing certain petrographical characteristics and reasonably correlative to the stratigraphical division determined from the biostratigraphical or other data