A recovery in demand for crude and oil products helped to significantly improve Japan’s crude oil imports in August. Preliminary data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) showed Japan imported 2.36 million bpd of crude oil in August, increasing by 13% from a more than 50-year low in July. The August oil imports, however, remained 23.9% below the year-ago level. Market participants expect the recovery in the domestic crude consumption to be slow in the coming months due to persistent uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Saudi Arabia was Japan’s largest crude supplier during the month, accounting for 45.3% of the total imports with 1.07 million bpd, rising 15.2% month-on-month and 16% year-on-year. Imports from Kuwait stood at 202,153 bpd in August, surging 42.6% from July. Imports from non-Middle Eastern suppliers, such as Ecuador, Algeria, Russia, and the US also increased, reducing Middle Eastern suppliers’ share in Japan’s crude imports from 95.2% in July to 88.1% in August.
Japan’s domestic gasoline and jet fuel sales improved month-on-month in August on the back of the peak summer demand. Gasoline sales rose 8.8% from July to 90,580 bpd, while jet fuel sales rose 20.5% to 74,263 bpd over the same period. Despite the monthly increase, domestic gasoline and jet fuel sales were the lowest for August since 1989 and 2012, respectively. Domestic refinery throughput fell 26.6% year-on-year to 2.348 million bpd in August. As a result, imports of gasoline rose 27.3% year-on-year to 85,755 bpd.
