Kuwaiti oil exports to Japan rise by 14.9%

Japanese government data showed on Thursday an increase in Kuwaiti crude oil exports to Japan in July and for the eighth consecutive month by 9.14 percent compared to the same period last year to reach 58.7 million barrels or (244 thousand barrels per day).

The Japan natural resources and Energy Agency said in a preliminary report that the state of Kuwait, as the third largest oil supplier to Japan, last month exported 5.10 percent of Japan’s total crude oil imports compared to 1.8 percent in the same period last year.

It added that Japan’s total crude oil imports in July fell by 6.10 percent year-on-year to 34.2 million barrels per day, a decrease for the first time in two months.

The agency pointed out that shipments from the Middle East accounted for 2.95 percent of the total last month, a decrease of 5.2 percent compared to the same period last year.

The United Arab Emirates returned to be the first supplier of oil to Japan, although imports from the country decreased by 7.11 percent from last year to reach 968 thousand barrels per day, followed by Saudi Arabia by 889 thousand barrels per day, a decrease of 2.3 percent.

Qatar came in fourth place with 98 thousand barrels per day and the United States fifth with 70 thousand barrels per day.
Japan is the third largest oil consumer in the world after China and the USA.