TOKYO: Japan imported US oil for the first time in four years as companies find ways around a four-decade ban on American exports and the Asian nation seeks to cut its dependence on Middle East suppliers. Japan, which relies on Saudi Arabia for 33 percent of its supply, imported about 300,000 barrels of oil from the US last month, the first shipments since at least June 2010, according to data from the Ministry of Finance. Cosmo Oil Co last month received the country’s first cargo of US condensate, a lightly processed form of crude.
A surplus of light, sweet crude from shale formations has boosted US production to the highest in more than three decades and spurred exports. Japan relies on the Middle East for 83 percent of its oil imports, and South Korea is dependent on the region for more than 87 percent of its crude supply, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
The US banned most crude exports in 1975, with a few exceptions including shipments to Canada. Exports of refined products such as petrol and diesel fuel are unrestricted. Policy makers are under pressure to lift the export ban as the combination of horizontal drilling and fracking has unlocked supplies from shale formations in the central US.
WP-Bloomberg
