— Kuwait’s crude oil exports to Japan in September fell 36.0 percent from a year earlier to 3.81 million barrels, or 127,000 barrels per day (bpd), for the first decline in two months, government data showed Monday.

As Japan’s fourth-biggest oil provider, Kuwait supplied 4.6 percent of its total crude imports, compared with 8.1 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 September grew 11.7 percent year-on-year to 2.76 million bpd, up for the 14th month in a row.

Shipments from the Middle East accounted for 95.6 percent of the total, up 2.9 percentage points from the year before. The United Arab Emirates returned to be Japan’s top oil supplier, with imports from the country soaring 38.6 percent from a year earlier to 1.24 million bpd, followed by Saudi Arabia with 921,000 bpd, up 7.7 percent. Qatar ranked third with 251,000 bpd and Ecuador fifth with 55,000 bpd, respectively.

Japan is the world’s-third biggest oil consumer after China and the US.

Source: Kuwait News Agency