Global Arab Network | Kuwait's crude oil exports plunged 47% to Japan hit 2-year low

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Kuwait's crude oil exports plunged 47% to Japan hit 2-year low

Friday, 30 July 2010 14:38

Japan (TOKYO) - Kuwait's crude oil exports to Japan plunged 47.1 percent in June from a year earlier to 4.86 million barrels, or 162,000 barrels per day (bpd), for the sixth consecutive monthly drop, the government said Friday. It was the lowest volume since June 2008, when it stood at 161, 000 bpd.

In June, Kuwait's crude exports to China skyrocketed to a record high of 308,000 bpd, surpassing the Japan-bound shipments for the first time, according to comparative data. Japan had long been Kuwait's largest oil buyer with roughly accounting for 20 percent of its total crude exports.

Kuwait supplied 5.1 percent of Japan's crude oil in June, compared with 9.5 percent in the same month of last year and 5.9 percent in May, the Japanese Natural Resources and Energy Agency, a unit of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, said in a preliminary report.

Japan's overall imports of crude oil edged down 1.5 percent year-on-year to 3.19 million bpd for the first decline in four months. Shipments from the Middle East fell 0.3 percent to 2.76 million bpd, and accounted for 86.5 percent of the total, up 1.0 percentage points from the year before.

Saudi Arabia remained Japan's biggest oil supplier, with imports from the kingdom falling 3.4 percent from a year earlier to 981,000 bpd, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 616,000 bpd, down 1.7 percent. Qatar ranked third, with shipments jumping 31.3 percent to 437,000 bpd. Iran became fourth and Russia fifth.

Resources-poor Japan is the world's third-largest oil consumer after the US and China, and it relies on crude oil imports for about 50 percent of its energy needs. Shipments of direct-deal, which prices are based on the average spot price of Dubai crude, the benchmark for Asia, account for about 80 percent of Japan's crude imports. (KUNA)

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