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Kuwait''s crude oil exports to Japan up for 4th month

Kuwait''s crude oil exports to Japan up for 4th month
Kuwait''s crude oil exports to Japan up for 4th month
(With Photo) TOKYO, June 29 (KUNA) -- Kuwait's crude oil exports to Japan jumped 42.7 percent in May from a year earlier to 8.69 million barrels, or 280,000 barrels per day (bpd), for the fourth consecutive monthly gain, the government said on Friday.
Kuwait remained Japan's fourth-biggest oil supplier, last month, since overtaking Iran in March, providing 7.8 percent of the country's total crude imports, compared with 6.4 percent in the same month of last year and 8.3 percent in April, the Natural Resources and Energy Agency said in a preliminary report. Japan's overall imports of crude oil in the reporting month rose 16.0 percent year-on-year to 110.72 million barrels (3.57 million bpd) for the fourth straight month of growth. Shipments from the Middle East stood at 2.93 million bpd and accounted for 82.0 percent of the total, down 4.5 percentage points from a year before.
Saudi Arabia remained Japan's biggest oil supplier, with imports from the kingdom increasing 8.6 percent from a year earlier to 1.11 million bpd, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 707,000 bpd, down 11.1 percent.
Qatar ranked third, with shipments growing 17.1 percent to 360,000 bpd. Indonesia became fifth with 139,000 bpd, up 21.5 percent.
Meanwhile, Japan cut crude oil imports from Iran by 51.1 percent to 128,000 bpd in line with its pledge to cooperate with US financial sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear program.
Japan, the second-largest importer of Iranian crude after China, imported about 9 percent of its oil from Iran in 2011.
The Japanese parliament last week approved a bill to allow the government to provide insurance cover up to a value of USD 7.6 billion for each tanker carrying Iranian crude bound for Japan.
The legislation enables the world's No.3 oil consumer to continue importing Iranian oil even after new European Union (EU) sanctions against Iran take effect in July, which will ban insurance firms of EU countries from covering Iran's exports.
Resources-poor is in need of more energy from abroad as all of its 50 workable nuclear reactors are currently idled due to safety concerns in the wake of the radiation accident in March 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was triggered by the massive earthquake and tsunami. (end) mk.rk KUNA 291059 Jun 12NNNN