Hundreds flee in Japan after Shinmoedake volcano begins spewing ash, boulders. Map of the Damage From the Japanese Earthquake. Earthquakes. 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami. Oil Plunges as Japan's Refiners Shut Plants After Earthquake. Oil fell below $100 a barrel in New York for the first time in more than a week after Japan’s strongest earthquake in at least a century forced refiners to shut several processing plants.
U.S. crude futures were headed for their first weekly decline in a month following the temblor in the world’s third- largest oil user. A fire at Cosmo Oil Co.’s refinery in Chiba, outside Tokyo, is spreading, a Fire Department spokesman said. JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. closed refineries in Sendai, Kashima and Negishi.