Japan's crude imports from Iran doubled
Japan's crude imports from Iran more than doubled in May from a
year earlier despite sanctions against the Persian Gulf country,
Bloomberg reported.
Crude imports rose to 1.09 million kiloliters, or about 222,000
barrels a day, up from about 523,000 kiloliters in May 2012,
according to data today from the Ministry of Finance. Purchases
from Iran in April of this year were about 530,000 kiloliters.
The U.S. extended Japan's exemption in March from sanctions on
banks doing business with Iran for a third six-month term based on
additional reductions in the volume of oil purchases from the
country.
Japan imported 4.77 million kiloliters of Iranian crude in the five
months ended May, down about 17 percent from a year earlier, the
finance ministry's data shows.
Japanese companies will unlikely increase oil imports from Iran on
a quarterly or annual basis because of possible sanctions, said
Osamu Fujisawa, an independent energy economist in Tokyo who worked
for Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K.
"It's not difficult for buyers to replace Iranian supply with oil
from other sources," Fujisawa said.
The finance ministry's data is based on a tally of shipments that
cleared Japanese customs. Japan's trade ministry is scheduled to
release separate statistics tomorrow based on data collected from
buyers via questionnaire.