Kuwait\'s crude oil exports to Japan down 10.4%

Kuwait\'s crude oil exports to Japan fell by 10.4 percent in May from a year earlier to 7.79 million barrels, or 251,000 barrels per day (bpd), for the fourth consecutive monthly decline, government data showed. According to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Kuwait supplied 7.4 percent of the Asian nation\'s total crude imports, compared with 7.8 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 May slid 5.4 percent year-on-year to 104.76 million barrels (3.38 million bpd) for the fourth straight monthly drop. Shipments from the Middle East accounted for 83.0 percent of the total, up by 1.0 percentage point from a year before. Saudi Arabia remained Japan\'s No.1 oil supplier, although imports from the kingdom shrank 7.4 percent from a year earlier to 1.03 million bpd, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 720,000 bpd, up 1.9 percent. Qatar ranked third with 441,000 bpd, up 22.5 percent, and Iran fifth, with 238,000 bpd, up 86.0 percent, respectively. The world\'s third-largest oil consumer after China and the US, Japan relies on crude oil imports for about 50 percent of its energy needs.