Japan’s total oil sales hit 34-year low for month of October

TOKYO: Japan’s total oil sales reached a 34-year low for the month of October, hurt by slow demand for fuel oil, kerosene and gas oil, trade ministry data showed on Wednesday.

Total oil sales registered their 13th straight month of year-on-year declines last month, down 2.1 per cent from a year ago to 2.88 million barrels per day (14.20 million kilolitres), the monthly oil data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) showed.

Kerosene sales fell 1.2 per cent last month as temperatures were slightly warmer than a year ago, a METI official said.

Sales of ‘fuel oil B, C’, varieties used for power generation and shipping, were down 2 per cent at 189,292 bpd, the lowest for the month since 1959.

Japan’s crude oil imports in October fell 2.1 per cent from a year earlier to 3.05 million barrels per day (15.06 million kilolitres), marking the lowest for the month of October since 1988, the official said.

Japan imported Ketapang crude oil from Indonesia for the first time, the official added.

The following table shows Japan’s crude imports and oil product sales in barrels per day.