TOKYO: Kuwait’s crude oil exports to Japan declined 2.3 percent in August from a year earlier to 6.18 million barrels, or 199,000 barrels per day (bpd), for the first fall in four months, government data showed. But Kuwait overtook Qatar to become Japan’s third-biggest oil provider, supplying 6.2 percent of the Asian nation’s total crude imports, the Japanese Natural Resources and Energy Agency said in a preliminary report.
Japan’s overall imports of crude oil edged down 0.1 percent year-on-year to 3.21 million bpd for the first decline in two months. Shipments from the Middle East accounted for 87.8 percent of the total, up 3.1 percentage points from the year before. Saudi Arabia remained Japan’s number one oil supplier, with imports from the kingdom jumping 38.4 percent from a year earlier to 1.35 million bpd, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 879,000 bpd, up 7.4 percent. Qatar ranked fourth and Russia fifth, respectively. Japan is the world’s-third biggest oil consumer after the US and China, importing virtually all its fossil fuels.
