Saudi Arabia, UAE supplied 85% of Japan’s crude oil in March

TOKYO: Saudi Arabia and the UAE provided 85 percent of Japan’s total crude oil needs in March, according to the Agency of Natural Resources and Energy of the nation’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

A further 10 percent of Japan’s needs were from Arab sources including Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the Neutral Zone. This means that the Arab region provided nearly 95 percent of Japan’s needs.

Crude oil represents about a third of Japan’s energy needs.

Japan imported 32.77 million barrels from the UAE, or 44.1 percent of total imports, in March. Saudi Arabia’s share amounted to 30.51 million barrels, or 41 percent of total imports.

During March, Japan imported 74.39 million barrels of oil, of which the Arab share was 94.7 percent, or 70.45 million barrels.

Kuwait provided 5.12 million barrels (6.9 percent) and Qatar 1.56 million barrels (2.1 percent). Japan imported 0.1 percent from Oman and 0.6 percent from the Neutral Zone.

With Japan’s ban on importing oil from Iran and Russia continuing in March, the rest of the country’s oil imports came from the US (4.1 percent), Central and South America (0.9 percent), and Oceania (0.3 percent).