TOKYO, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Japan's top oil refiner, JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp, said on Thursday it plans to refine 2 percent less crude oil in January for domestic consumption from a year earlier.

The lower runs in the face of sluggish kerosene sales due to much warmer-than-usual weather in northern Hokkaido island are offset somewhat by bumper exports, a company spokeswoman said.

JX Nippon's planned crude refining for local market is estimated at 1.22 million barrels per day, or 5.99 million kilolitres in January.

Its December crude refining for domestic consumption was estimated at 1.27 million bpd, or 6.28 million kl, up 1 percent from the year-earlier period, compared with the original plan of 1.28 million bpd, or 6.31 million kl, as bad weather delayed the arrival of crude vessels.

JX, which operates eight refineries in Japan with a total capacity of 1.61 million bpd, planned no refinery maintenance in December and January.

The refining volumes exclude condensate but include crude processed at the company's 51 percent-owned venture with PetroChina, Osaka International Refining Co, an export-oriented 115,000-bpd refinery.

Here is a table of the company's plans for crude refining volumes, exports and imports.

Crude refining bpd Yr/Yr % Dec 1.27 mln +1 Jan 1.22 mln -2 Oil product exports bbls Yr/Yr % Dec 3.21 mln +104 Jan 4.09 mln +282 Oil product imports bbls Yr/Yr % Dec 1.26 mln n/a Jan n/a n/a Here is a table of JX's estimates for Japan's domestic oil product sales for this month: Product Yr/Yr % Gasoline -2 Kerosene -14 Gas oil +1 A fuel oil -3 C fuel oil (utilities) -11 C fuel oil (other) -15