Official figures show Japan’s imports of crude oil from Iran saw a major plunge in April.

Figures show the country imported 72,000 b/d of Iranian oil in the month. This is about 72% lower than imports in March that stood at 293,000 b/d.

Japan’s imports of Iranian oil in April nevertheless saw a rise of about 20% compared to the same period last year. The country’s imports of Iranian oil for April 2014 stood at 60,000 b/d.

The highest year-on-year rise in imports of crude oil was those from Oman. Figures show a huge increase of 203% in the country’s oil exports to Japan. Kuwait also saw an increase of 58% in its exports of oil to Japan over the same period.

This is while imports from heavyweight producers Iraq and Saudi Arabia were down by 62%, 11% over the same period. Japan’s imports of oil from Qatar and the UAE were also down by 29% and 4%.

Overall, Japan’s imports of oil since January were lower by about two% compared to the same period last year.

Source: Press TV