Kuwait’s export of crude oil to Japan has climbed 7.6 percent to 6.61 million barrels, or 220,000 barrels per day (bpd), up for the second straight month, government data showed Tuesday.
Kuwait overtook Qatar to become Japan’s third-biggest oil provider last month, supplying 7.6 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 grew 9.9 percent year-on-year to 2.92 million bpd, up for the ninth month in a row. Shipments from the Middle East accounted for 93.7 percent of the total, up 1.9 percentage points from the year before.
Saudi Arabia returned to be Japan’s No.1 oil supplier, with imports from the kingdom surging 43.9 percent from a year earlier to 1.28 million bpd, followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 934,000 bpd, down 10.5 percent. Qatar ranked fourth with 207,000 bpd and Russia fifth with 84,000 bpd, respectively.
Japan is the world’s-third biggest oil consumer after China and the US.