LOC10:17
07:17 GMT
TOKYO, Aug 30 (KUNA) -- Kuwait's crude oil exports to Japan fell 34.3 percent in July from a year earlier to 4.90 million barrels, or 158,000 barrels per day (bpd), down for the 10th consecutive month, government data showed Friday.
As Japan's third-biggest oil provider, Kuwait supplied 7.9 percent of the Asian nation's total crude imports, compared with 10.5 percent in the same month of last year, the Japanese Natural Resources and Energy Agency said in a preliminary report.
Japan's overall imports of crude oil in July declined 12.8 percent year-on-year to 2.04 million bpd, down for the eighth month in a row. Shipments from the Middle East accounted for 97.6 percent of the total, up 2.4 percentage points from the year before.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) remained Japan's No.1 oil supplier, with imports from the country increasing 3.4 percent from a year earlier to 1.00 million bpd, followed by Saudi Arabia with 727,000 bpd, down 11.2 percent. Qatar ranked fourth with 72,000 bpd and Ecuador fifth with 19,000 bpd, respectively. Japan is the world's-third biggest oil consumer after China and the US. (end)
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