Mideast oil imports top 90% in Oct.

Yomiuri Shimbun

Oil imports from the Middle East accounted for 90.4 percent of the nation's total oil imports in October, marking the first time since January 1971 the figure has exceeded 90 percent, according to an International Trade and Industry Ministry report released Tuesday.

In January 1971, oil imported from Middle East countries accounted for 92.6 percent of the total.

Due to sharp increases in the price of crude oil, imports of relatively cheap oil from Kuwait increased by more than 80 percent on a year-on-year basis, while Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries slowed oil exports because of increased domestic demand.

Total imports of crude oil in October stood at 21.03 kiloliters, up 0.1 percent from a year earlier. By country, oil imported from the United Arab Emirates accounted for 22.9 percent of the total, followed by Saudi Arabia, which accounted for 21 percent, Iran and Qatar, which both accounted for 11.2 percent, and Kuwait, 10 percent.

Previously, the nation's dependence on Middle East oil imports had decreased after government efforts to diversify the countries from which it imported oil after the 1973 oil crisis. By April 1988, the ratio of oil imported from the region had declined to 61.3 percent.

However, the trend was reversed as the price of oil from Mexico and South American countries increased and the price of imports from China and Indonesia decreased.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/1129ec19.htm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), November 28, 2000

Answers

Whatever happened to Indonesia? They used to be Japan's chief oil supplier.

-- JackW (jpayne@webtv.net), November 29, 2000.