UAE becomes top oil supplier to
Japan
Abu Dhabi |By Nadim Kawach, Bureau Chief |
26-11-2003
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The
UAE became the top oil supplier to Japan in the second half of
this year, overtaking neighbouring Saudi Arabia to deliver
more than a quarter of the crude needs of the southeast Asian
industrial giant, according to official figures.
The
country's oil exports to its main Asian economic partner stood
at around 5.2 million kilolitres in July, an average 1.089
million barrels per day (bpd), showed the figures by the
Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Saudi
Arabia's crude supplies to the Japanese were estimated at
nearly 3.76 million kilolitres, an average 824,000 bpd, far
lower than the previous months.
The UAE's oil sales to
Japan, mostly from Abu Dhabi, accounted for 26.6 per cent of
the Tokyo's total crude imports of 19.5 million kilolitres
(4.08 million bpd).
"In the first half of 2003, Saudi
Arabia was the top oil supplier to Japan but it was overtaken
by the UAE in recent months," METI said in a
report.
Saudi Arabia's oil exports to Japan totalled
29.8 million kilolitres (1.039 million bpd) in the first half
of this year while the UAE's supplies were estimated at 29.5
million kilolitres (1.029 million bpd). Apart from Saudi
crude, Japan also imports oil from the Neutral Zone shared by
the Kingdom and Kuwait, with a production of nearly 300,000
bpd.
Around 2.14 million kilolitres of the UAE's oil
exports to Japan in July were Murban crude while nearly 776
million were from Lower Zakum and the rest from Upper Zakum,
among the biggest offshore oilfields in the
world.
Japan has a shareholding in some UAE oil
companies and its Tokyo Electric Power Co is the main client
of Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Co (Adgas).
Japan's oil
imports from the UAE have risen steadily this year while those
from Saudi Arabia have fallen from around 4.94 million
kilolitres in May to 4.26 million kilolitres in June and 3.76
million kilolitres in July, METI figures showed.
Japan
is also a major oil buyer from other Gulf producers including
Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Iran. While supplies from Iran have
stabilised at around 3.1 million kilolitres a month this year,
imports from Kuwait and Qatar fluctuated because of the Iraq
war.
But the biggest change was in crude imports from
Oman as they tumbled to around 421,000 kilolitres (88,129 bpd)
in July from 1.76 million kilolitres (368,000 bpd) in
June.
According to the report, Japan's oil imports from
the Middle East totalled around 131 million kilolitres (4.57
million bpd) in the first half of this year. The supplies
accounted for nearly 83.4 per cent of its total crude oil
imports.
"Japan will remain heavily reliant on oil
from the Middle East, especially the Gulf, given the region's
vast crude deposits and Japan's limited resources," an oil
analyst said.
"Its dependence on oil imports is now
estimated at 98 per cent and the ratio will exceed 99 per cent
and could reach 100 per cent in the next 20
years."
Large oil supplies have turned the UAE into one
of the biggest trading partners of Japan, ranking second only
to Saudi Arabia in the Middle East last year. Two-way trade
totalled around $14.4 billion, including $11.5 billion worth
of UAE exports. |
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