Kuwait\'s crude oiL exports to Japan down 16.4%

Kuwait\'s crude oil exports to Japan slid 16.4 percent in April from a year earlier to 8.15 million barrels, or 272,000 barrels per day (bpd), for the third consecutive monthly decline, the government said Friday. As Japan\'s fourth-biggest oil provider in April, Kuwait supplied 7.4 percent of the Asian nation\'s total crude imports, compared with 8.3 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 April fell 6.2 percent year-on-year to 110.63 million barrels (3.69 million bpd) for the third straight monthly drop. Shipments from the Middle East stood at 3.00 million bpd and accounted for 81.4 percent of the total, down 1.7 percentage points from a year before. Saudi Arabia was Japan\'s No.1 oil supplier, with imports from the kingdom growing 12.6 percent from a year earlier to 1.21 million bpd, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 740,000 bpd, down 26.0 percent. Qatar ranked third with 494,000 bpd, up 9.5 percent and Russia fifth with 238,000 bpd, up 6.9 percent, respectively. Japan, the world\'s third-largest oil consumer after China and the US, relies on crude oil imports for about 50 percent of its energy needs.