Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday requested cooperation from the world’s top crude oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, in expanding energy deliveries to Japan amid the ongoing supply crunch.
In a telephone call with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman today, Takaichi “expressed her appreciation for Saudi Arabia’s continued supply of crude oil to Japan via Yanbu Port even after the outbreak of the situation, and requested cooperation toward the expansion of energy supply to Japan,” the office of the Japanese PM said in a statement.
The Saudi ruler “expressed Saudi Arabia’s intention to respond positively in order to ensure energy supply to markets including Japan,” the Asian G-7 economy said.
Resource-poor Japan is heavily dependent on Middle Eastern oil supply and felt the supply crunch almost immediately as most supplies from the region remained trapped at the Strait of Hormuz unable to pass through the world’s most critical oil and LNG chokepoint.
Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman also told the Japanese PM that he “would continue to cooperate with Japan to stabilize the situation, including ensuring safe navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” Japan said today.
Japan, which depends on Middle Eastern oil supply for about 95% of its oil supply, began releasing oil stocks from national reserves at the end of March, as part of the IEA-coordinated record-high release of 400 million barrels of oil and fuel. Japan is releasing a total of 80 million barrels of oil stocks, including 54 million barrels of crude and 26 million barrels of oil products as part of the IEA’s 400-million-barrel release.
Earlier this month, Japan announced it would release another 20 days of worth of oil from reserves beginning next month, with all of these supplies intended for the domestic market.
Japan is also seeking to diversify its crude oil imports and is expected to import 1 million barrels of Mexican crude in July, under an agreement between Takaichi and Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum, the Nikkei Asia newspaper reported earlier this week.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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