Page 6 - AsianOil Week 10 2023

AsianOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT AsianOil

Japan’s January oil imports highlight

dominance of GCC nations

JAPAN WHILE Japan is heavily reliant on the Middle Imports from Saudi dealers made up the bulk
Eastern for crude oil imports, many were sur- of Japanese GCC purchases for the month, with
Middle East accounted prised to see that almost 95% of all crude oil 43.9% coming in from the Kingdom.
for 95% of Japanese oil imports ordered by Tokyo in January arrived Equivalent to 37.095mn barrels, the Saudi
imports in January. from Arab nations. crude led the second ranked GCC exporter
Officially topping out at 94.4% of imports for to Tokyo by over 8mn barrels; the UAE ship-
the first month of the year, crude imported from ping a total of 28.854mn barrels to the Far
the five Cooperation Council for the Arab States East.
of the Gulf (GCC) countries of Kuwait, Oman, Numbers aside, ignored by many, but of great
Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE levelled out at significance in Japan was the fact that imports
just over 79.72mn barrels for the month. from Saudi Arabia in January had actually
In total the world’s third-largest economy increased against figures posted in December.
imported 84.423mn barrels, according to sta- Many sources in the Japanese capital
tistics released by Japan’s Agency for Natural expected the start of 2023 to be a turning point,
Resources and Energy at the Ministry of Econ- marking the start of a gradual decline in GCC
omy, Trade and Industry (METI) in Tokyo. crude imports, beginning with those from Saudi
Oil makes up around a third of Japan’s cur- Arabia.
rent energy mix at present, but this is a figure Kuwait accounted for an addition 8.448mn
expected to drop dramatically in the coming barrels with Qatar adding a further 3.875mn and
years as Tokyo moves away from fossil fuels and just under 1mn coming in from Oman.
towards net-zero goals whilst also bringing a Of note, Japanese government data also
number of its long-mothballed nuclear reactors included the import of 450,000 barrels from the
back online. 5,770-square kilometre neutral zone in the bor-
The latest figures are a surprise to some der area between Saudi and Kuwaiti territory.
Japan-based analysts, however, especially after Tacitly neutral since 1922, in many ways the
extensive efforts by authorities in the country to region is self-operating, but in terms of energy
diversify its crude supply base in recent months. exports last December saw an agreement
Related to the diversification efforts, albeit between Saudi Aramco and the Kuwait Gulf Oil
still a number seen as much too low to make Company aimed at the co-development of the
much of a difference was a resumption of crude Durra gas field. It is thought the site will one day
coming in from Russia, with 0.9% of the total produce up to 84,000 barrels per day (bpd) of
ordered from Moscow. LNG. Japanese interests from afar in the Neutral
This amounted to a shade over 747,000 Zone have been long-standing, dating back to
barrels. the oil shock of the early 1970s, albeit discreet
In recent months, much has been made of for the most part.
Japan politely manoeuvering its way around The United States along with Central and
US and EU-led sanctions on Russian exports, South America combined to supply a fur-
although to appease Washington, Tokyo does ther 4.2% of Japan’s January inflow, with lesser
still opt to boycott Iranian crude exports accord- amounts also coming from fellow Asian nations
ing to officials. Malaysia and Indonesia. ™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 10 09•March•2023