Energy

Arab Countries Provided 74% of Japan's Oil Imports in August

Sunday, October 9, 2011

METI Minister Edano to Visit UAE, Saudi Arabia

Tokyo- (PanOrient News) Saudi Arabia remained the biggest oil supplier to Japan in August 2011, exporting 31.51 million barrels, or 29% of Japan's total imports, according to figures from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in Tokyo.

The United Arab Emirates followed in the second place with 25.54 million barrels, or 23.5% of Japan's crude imports in the same month.

Qatar, another Arab country, came third with 10.75 million barrels or 9.9% of total Japanese imports in August.

Iran supplied 8.7% of total Japanese crude oil imports, METI said noting that refiners and trading companies imported 9.44 million barrels of crude oil from that country in August which puts Iran in the 4th place in the list of crude providers to Japan.

Russia came fifth with 6.14 million barrels (5.7%,) followed by Iraq with 5.15 million barrels (4.7%,) according to the METI.

Arab countries, including Oman, Sudan and the Saudi-Kuwaiti Neutral Zone, supplied 80.49 million barrel or 74.1% of total Japanese crude imports in August. In that month, Japan didn’t import crude oil from Libya or Yemen, METI officials told PanOrient News.

Crude imports form the Middle East amounted to 89.94 million barrels, or 82.8% of total imports in January, METI data showed.

Meanwhile, METI Minister Yukio Edano has left Tokyo on Saturday to visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on a four-day trip to discuss energy and industrial cooperation issues, METI said.

In the UAE, Edano is expected to seek an extension of Japanese companies' interests in oil fields in the country. On Sunday, Edano will travel on to Saudi Arabia, where he will urge the country to continue working to stabilize the global oil market.

Photo: METI Minister Edano delivers a courtesy speech at a recent Saudi Arabian event in Tokyo


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