Kuwait’s March crude oil exports to Japan down 22 pct – data

TOKYO, Kuwait's crude oil exports to Japan in March fell 22.0 percent from a year earlier to 5.11 million barrels, or 165,000 barrels per day (bpd), down for the sixth consecutive month, government data showed Tuesday. As Japan's third-biggest oil provider, Kuwait supplied 6.9 percent of its total crude imports, compared with 8.4 percent in the same month of last year, the Japanese Natural Resources and Energy Agency said in a preliminary report. Japan's overall imports of crude oil in the reporting month declined 4.4 percent year-on-year to 2.40 million bpd, down for the fourth month in a row. Shipments from the Middle East accounted for 94.7 percent of the total, down 1.9 percentage points from the year before. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) remained in the top spot, with imports from the country growing 9.8 percent from the year before to 1.06 million bpd, followed by Saudi Arabia with 982,000 bpd, down 7.1 percent. The US ranked fourth with 97,000 bpd and Qatar fifth with 50,000 bpd, respectively. Jap an is the world's-third biggest oil consumer after China and the US. Source: Kuwait News Agency