Tokyo: Kuwait’s crude oil exports to Japan fell 20.7 per cent in June from a year earlier to 6.02 million barrels, or 201,000 barrels per day (bpd), down for the third straight month, government data cited by Kuwaiti News Agency (Kuna) showed on Thursday.
As Japan’s fifth biggest oil provider, Kuwait supplied 6.7 per cent of the Asian nation’s total crude imports, the Japanese Natural Resources and Energy Agency said in a preliminary report.
Japan’s overall imports of crude oil declined 8.3 per cent year-on-year to 3.01 million bpd for the fourth consecutive monthly fall. Shipments from the Middle East accounted for 82.0 per cent of the total, down 2.9 percentage points from a year before.
Saudi Arabia remained Japan’s No.1 oil supplier, with imports from the kingdom growing 3.4 per cent from a year earlier to 932,000 bpd, followed by the UAE with 767,000 bpd, down 14.4 per cent. Qatar ranked third with 235,000 bpd and Russia fourth with 214,000 bpd, respectively.
Japan is the world’s third biggest oil consumer after the US and China.
