Kuwait Becomes Japan's 4th Biggest Crude Supplier

Kuwait became Japan's fourth-biggest crude supplier in September 2009 by overtaking Iran, according to data released by the government agency on 30 October 2009.

Kuwait's crude oil exports to Japan slightly rose 0.5% in September 2009 from a year earlier to 10.36 million barrels, or 345,000 bpd, for the first increase in two months, the Japanese Natural Resources and Energy Agency, a unit of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, said in a preliminary report.

Kuwait provided 10.5% of nation's crude oil in September 2009, compared with 8.5% in the same month of 2008 and 8.0% in August 2009.

It is first time since April that Kuwait's share topped 10.0% in the Japanese market. Japan is Kuwait's largest oil buyer.

Japan's overall imports of crude oil in the reporting month shrank 18.7% year-on-year to 98.27 million barrels (3.28 million bpd) for the 12th consecutive month of fall.

Shipments from the Middle East went down 14.6% to 94.16 million barrels and accounted for 90.6% of the total, up 4.4 percentage points from a year before.

Saudi Arabia remained Japan's biggest oil supplier, with imports from the kingdom edging up 0.2% from a year earlier to 29.38 million barrels, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 21.61 million barrels, down 27.9%. Qatar ranked third, with shipments plunging 29.2% to 10.39 million barrels. Iran became fifth with 9.42 million barrels, down 27.9%.

Resource-poor Japan is the world's third-largest oil consumer after the US and China, and it relies on crude oil imports for about 50% of its energy needs.

The nation purchases oil through long-term contracts and direct-dealing transactions between its distributors and oil-producing nations.

Shipments of direct-deal, which prices are based on the average spot price of Dubai crude, the benchmark for Asia, account for about 80% of Japan's crude imports.