Kuwait\'s crude oil exports to Japan up 10.5%

Kuwait's crude oil exports to Japan rose 10.5 percent in March from a year earlier to 9.85 million barrels, or 318,000 barrels per day (bpd), for the first increase in two months, government data showed Wednesday. As Japan's fourth-biggest oil provider, Kuwait supplied 8.3 percent of the Asian nation's total crude imports, compared with 6.9 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 March fell 8.1 percent year-on-year to 118.67 million barrels (3.83 million bpd) for the first drop in two months. Shipments from the Middle East accounted for 85.4 percent of the total, up 4.5 percentage points from a year before. Saudi Arabia remained Japan's first oil supplier, with imports from the kingdom slightly rising 1.4 percent from on the year to 1.19 million bpd, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 891,000 bpd, up 9.8 percent. Qatar ranked third with 506,000 bpd and Russia fifth with 235,000 bpd, respectively.