TOKYO, Jan 30 (KUNA) -- Kuwait's crude oil exports to Japan in December rose 12.3 percent from a year earlier to 5.61 million barrels, or 181,000 barrels per day (bpd), up for the first time in two months, government data showed Friday.
As Japan's fourth-biggest oil provider, Kuwait supplied 6.1 percent of its total crude imports, compared with 6.3 percent in the same month of last year, the Japanese Natural Resources and Energy Agency said in a preliminary report. For the whole of 2025, Kuwait's crude oil exports to Japan stood at 143,000 bpd, down 7.3 percent from the previous year, and took up 6.6 percent of total Japanese crude imports.
Japan's overall imports of crude oil in December grew 17.7 percent year-on-year to 2.99 million bpd, up for the third month in a row. Shipments from the Middle East accounted for 88.0 percent of the total, down 8.3 percentage points from the year before. By country, Saudi Arabia topped the list, with imports from the kingdom increasing 7.5 percent from the year before to 1.35 million bpd, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 1.02 million bpd, down 11.7 percent. The US ranked third with 289,000 bpd and Qatar fifth with 57,000 bpd, respectively.
For the full year 2025, Japan's crude oil imports gained 3.5 percent on the year to 2.41 million bpd. Japan is the world's-third biggest oil consumer after China and the US. (end) mk.aa