Kuwait\'s crude oil exports to Japan down 24%

Kuwait's crude oil exports to Japan fell 24.0 percent in October from a year earlier to 6.23 million barrels, or 201,000 barrels per day (bpd), for the first decline in two months, government data showed Friday. As Japan's fifth-biggest oil provider, Kuwait supplied 6.4 percent of the Asian nation's total crude imports, the Japanese Natural Resources and Energy Agency said in a preliminary report. Japan's overall imports of crude oil declined 2.9 percent year-on-year to 3. 19 million bpd for the first drop in two months. Shipments from the Middle East accounted for 82.7 percent of the total, up 1.6 percentage points from a year before. Saudi Arabia remained Japan's No. 1 oil supplier, although imports from the kingdom slid 4.1 percent from a year earlier to 993,000 bpd, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 749,000 bpd, up 3.3 percent. Qatar ranked third with 388,000 bpd and Russia fourth with 325,000 bpd, respectively. During Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Kuwait in August, Abe and H.H. the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah welcomed Kuwait's commitment to supplying oil to Japan in a continuous and stable manner. They also welcomed the energy cooperation between the two countries, particularly joint investment in refinery projects in third countries