Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Japan imports of Saudi crude oil in January 2022, reached about 34.92 million barrels, or 41.4% of the total imports in that month, according to data from the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy that belong to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI.)

In December 2021, Japan imported 39.87 million barrels of crude oil from Saudi Arabia, or 43.3% of the total during that month, according to METI.

Japan imported 25.53 million barrels, or 30.3% of the total, from the United Arab Emirates in January, ranking second after Saudi Arabia.

Japan imported 84.31 million barrels during January, compared to 92.18 million barrels in December 2021.

Arab oil remained crucial for Japan’s energy needs in January amounting to 92.1% of the total imports, or 77.38 million barrels provided by seven Arab countries, including Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Sudan, according to the data.

The rest of the imports came from Southeast Asia at 1.1%, Europe (Russia was the only European source of crude oil to Japan providing 4.3% of the total imports in January).

 METI said it has no plans at the moment to sanction energy imports from Russia in response to Ukrainian war.

Qatar provided 7.36 million barrels or 8.7% of Japan’s total imports in January, followed by Kuwait with 6.67 million barrels or 7.9% of total imports. Oman provided about 500,000 barrels (0.6%).

The figures cited represent the quantities of oil that arrived to refineries, tanks and warehouses located at ports in Japan during Jan 2022. Oil generates about one third of Japan’s energy needs.