Kuwait became Japan’s third-biggest crude oil supplier in April 2017, providing 257,000b/d, Hellenic Shipping News reported.

The Japanese Natural Resources and Energy Agency revealed in a preliminary report that Kuwait’s crude oil exports to Japan fell by 10.5% since 2016, down for the third consecutive month,  Kuwait News Agency stated.

The oil-producing country supplied 7.3% of the Asian country’s total crude imports to overtake Qatar.

Japan overall imports of crude oil increased by 1.8% year-on-year to be 3.53mb/d, which is the first expansion in three months.
Shipments from the Middle East accounted for 84% of the total oil imports, down 3.6% points from the previous year.

Saudi Arabia remained Japan’s top oil provider, but imports from the kingdom slid by 2.6% from a year earlier to be 1.39mb/d. The United Arab Emirates is the second provider as it exports 833,000b/d to Japan. Qatar ranked fourth with 247,000b/d and Russia fifth with 220,000b/d, respectively.

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