Japan's ME Oil Imports in Jan 2010 Announced

Japanese government said that Kuwait’s crude oil exports to Japan fell 24.9% in January 2010 from a year earlier to 7.74 million barrels, or 250,000 bpd, for the second consecutive monthly drop.

Kuwait supplied 6.1% of nation’s crude oil in January 2010, compared with 8.8% in January 2009 and 7.7% in December 2009, the Japanese Natural Resources and Energy Agency, a unit of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, said in a preliminary report.

Japan is Kuwait’s largest oil buyer with accounting for 20% of its total crude exports. Japan’s overall imports of crude oil in the reporting month rose 7.6% year-on-year to 126.60 million barrels (4.08 million bpd) for the first gain in 16 month.

Shipments from the Middle East increased 7.4% to 112.13 million barrels (3.62 million bpd), and accounted for 88.6% of the total, down 0.1% points from a year before. Saudi Arabia remained Japan’s biggest oil supplier, with imports from the kingdom rising 6.2% from a year earlier to 37.36 million barrels (1.21 million bpd), followed by the United Arab Emirates with 23.86 million barrels (770,000 bpd), down 2.5%.

Qatar ranked third, with shipments jumping 24.4% to 15.47 million barrels (499,000 bpd).

Iran was fourth with 12.80 million barrels (413,000 bpd), down 19.2%.

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. 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. – Al Wasat