Japan’s crude oil imports fell 38.4 per cent in May to 1.48 million barrels per day (7.29 million kilolitres) from a year earlier, data showed on Tuesday, with higher imports from the United States helping offset a drop in Middle Eastern supplies.
Despite the fall, the May figure came in sharply above April’s, according to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
The country’s crude oil imports fell 66 per cent to 853,329 bpd (4.07 million kilolitres) year-on-year in April, the lowest level in more than 60 years as the US-Israeli war on Iran that began on February 28 severely disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit route for roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies. Imports from the Middle East were down 68 per cent in April.
In May, imports from the Middle East fell 49.7 per cent, with shipments from Japan’s two largest suppliers – Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – declining 58 per cent and 33.3 per cent, respectively, the data showed.
To compensate, imports from the United States surged 74.8 per cent to 330,999 bpd (1.63 million kilolitres) from a year earlier. Japan also imported just over 20,000 bpd or 100,000 kilolitres of crude from Azerbaijan and Russia. Japan sourced 94 per cent of its crude oil imports from the Middle East in 2025.
The country’s domestic oil product sales last month fell 5.2 per cent from a year earlier to 1.98 million bpd, the data showed. Gasoline sales dropped 0.9 per cent to 700,436 bpd, while kerosene sales up 10.6 per cent from a year earlier to 72,912 bpd, the data showed.
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
