LOC08:59
05:59 GMT
TOKYO, Dec 1 (KUNA) -- Kuwait's crude oil exports to Japan rose 16.3
percent in October from a year earlier to 9.65 million barrels, or 311,000
barrels per day, up for the third straight month, according to the latest
report released by the government agency.
Japan is Kuwait's largest oil buyer, taking around 20 percent of its
shipments annually.
Kuwait supplied 8.1 percent of nation's crude oil in October, compared with
6.4 percent in the same month of last year and 8.5 percent in September this
year, the Japanese Natural Resources and Energy Agency, a unit of the Ministry
of Economy, Trade and Industry, said in a preliminary report.
Japan's overall imports of crude oil in the reporting month fell 7.7
percent year-on-year to 118.95 million barrels, with shipments from the Middle
East shrinking 8.1 percent to 103.68 million barrels.
Imports from the region accounted for 87.2 percent of the total, down 0.3
percentage points from the year before. The Middle Eastern share fell for the
second straight month.
Saudi Arabia became Japan's biggest oil supplier, and imports from the
kingdom increased 4.6 percent from a year earlier to 37.99 million barrels,
followed by the United Arab Emirates with 26.59 million barrels, down 17.0
percent.
Iran ranked third, with shipments increasing 22.7 percent to 16.31 million
barrels. Qatar became fourth with 10.07 million barrels, down 35.1 percent.
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 percent of its
energy needs. The nation purchases oil through long-term contracts and
direct-dealing transactions between its distributors and oil-producing nations.
Shipments of direct-deal, which prices are based on the average spot price
of Dubai crude, the benchmark for Asia, account for about 80 percent of
Japan's crude imports. (end)
mk.ema
KUNA 010859 Dec 08NNNN