TOKYO: Japan’s crude oil imports last year fell to the lowest level since 1988 as demand weakens amid a declining population and more efficient vehicles.
The world’s third-biggest economy imported 195.5 million kiloliters of oil, or about 3.37 million barrels a day in 2015, a 2.3 percent drop from the previous year, according to preliminary data from the Ministry of Finance on Monday. That’s the lowest since 1988 when the nation imported 192.2 million kiloliters, data from the ministry shows.
Japan’s oil-product demand peaked in fiscal year 1999 and has been in decline as the populace shrinks and as auto manufacturers build more fuel efficient vehicles, forcing refiners to cut capacity and consolidate. Demand for fuels like gasoline and diesel is forecast to fall by an average 1.3 percent annually through the year ending March 2020, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in April.
Japan bought about 82 percent of its total oil imports from the Middle East last year, 1.2 percentage points less than a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Finance. Meanwhile, Russia increased its share by 0.7 percentage points to 8.8 percent in 2015, according to the data.
Brent crude, the benchmark for more than half the world’s oil, fell 35 percent last year as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries effectively abandoned production limits to defend market share. Japan paid about 8.18 trillion yen ($69 billion) for crude in 2015, down 41 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Finance data. Japan’s bill for LNG dropped 29.5 percent to 5.54 trillion yen.
LNG shipments fell 3.9 percent to 85 million metric tons last year, the first decline since 2009. Thermal coal imports rose 4.8 percent to a record 114 million metric tons, according to ministry data going back to 1988. Japan’s population has dropped the past seven years and last year fell to 126.9 million, the lowest since 2000, according to an estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau.
