Kuwait's crude oil exports to Japan up 34.4%

Kuwait's crude oil exports to Japan jumped 34.4% in July from a year earlier to 6.94 million barrels, or 224,000 barrels per day (bpd), for the second consecutive monthly expansion, (KUNA) news agency reported citing government data. As Japan's fourth-biggest oil provider, Kuwait supplied 6.4% of the Asian nation's total crude imports, compared with 4.9% 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 July grew 1.8% year-on-year to 108.03 million barrels (3.48 million bpd) for the second straight monthly gain. Shipments from the Middle East accounted for 86.2% of the total, up 2.9% from a year before. Saudi Arabia remained Japan's No.1 oil supplier, although imports from the kingdom shrank 8.1% from a year earlier to 1.04 million bpd, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 870,000 bpd, up 6.7%. Qatar ranked third with 564,000 bpd and Iran fifth with 172,000 bpd, respectively.