Japan secures July oil supply despite Hormuz shutdown

Japan expects to secure crude oil imports in July at roughly the same level as a year earlier, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday, June 11, as it increases purchases from non-Middle Eastern suppliers, including the United States, amid the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The country has traditionally relied on the Middle East for more than 90 per cent of its crude oil imports. However, shipments through the Strait of Hormuz — a critical energy corridor that normally carries around 20 percent of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows — have nearly come to a halt, forcing Japan to seek alternative sources.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is expected to present the outlook later on Thursday at a ministerial meeting addressing Japan’s response to the situation in the Middle East, the sources told Kyodo.

The disruption follows the launch of US and Israeli attacks on Iran in late February. The closure of the strait has intensified pressure on resource-poor Japan to diversify its crude supply amid uncertainty over the duration of the conflict.

Japan received its first shipment of US crude oil in April after the situation in the Middle East deteriorated. Since May, it has also secured supplies from Azerbaijan, South Sudan and Sakhalin in Russia’s Far East.

The government had previously projected that crude imports in June would reach about 80 percent of the level recorded a year earlier. The July outlook indicates further progress in securing alternative supplies, according to the sources.

By Tamilla Hasanova