SAUDIS OIL FOR JAPAN UP 3.4%

PLATTS -  Japanese imports of crude oil from Saudi Arabia in March rose 3.4% month on month to an average of 1.29 million b/d, preliminary data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry released Friday showed.

METI data is released in kiloliters, which S&P Global Platts converts into b/d.

Saudi crude imports, which accounted for 39.9% of Japan's total crude imports of 3.22 million b/d in March, were up 0.5% year on year.

Japan also imported 522,896 barrels of Bahrain's Banoco Arab Medium crude in March, up 1% from 517,959 barrels in February.

Middle Eastern producers' share of Japan's crude imports was 91.3% in March, up from 90.6% a year ago, marking the eighth consecutive year-on-year rise as a result of increased imports from the UAE and Qatar.

Crude imports from the UAE in March jumped 11.7% year on year and 21% month on month to 838,692 b/d, driven by increased imports of Murban crude. These rose 29.4% year on year and 46.3% month on month to 218,725 b/d.

The sharp increase in Japan's light sour Middle Eastern crude intake in March was no surprise as Dubai prices were attractive compared with North American and European light crude pricing benchmarks during the early part of the first quarter.

WTI's sustained weakness against Dubai has been the main driver of Asian appetite for US crude for more than a year, but the North American benchmark's discount against the Middle Eastern marker narrowed sharply in the first two months of 2018, even flipping to a premium of 5 cents/b on February 15.

Reflecting the recovery in the North American benchmark price, Japan did not import any US crude oil in March, the METI data showed.

In addition, lofty Brent crude prices could have discouraged some Japanese refiners in the first quarter from purchasing North Sea, Mediterranean, Southeast Asian and Oceania crude grades that are linked to the European pricing benchmark.

The Brent/Dubai EFS -- a key indicator of Brent's premium to the Middle Eastern benchmark that often serves as a barometer of the strength in the European crude complex -- averaged $3.49/b in Q1, the highest quarterly average since Q2 2014, when it averaged $4.38/b.

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Earlier:

2018, April, 27, 10:40:00 JAPAN'S LNG DOWN 2.6% PLATTS - Japan's LNG imports slipped 2.6% year on year to 7.9 million mt in March with imports from Papua New Guinea dropping, Ministry of Finance data released Thursday showed. PNG LNG had shut its plant after a massive earthquake hit the region on February 26. Japan's imports from PNG fell 65.7% from a year ago to 145,580 mt, or about two cargoes, in March.

2018, April, 2, 09:20:00 JAPAN'S OIL IMPORTS DOWN 15% REUTERS - Japan’s crude oil imports last month fell 15.4 percent from a year earlier to 2.99 million barrels per day (13.33 million kilolitres), the lowest for the month of February since 1969

2018, February, 14, 09:50:00 SAUDIS OIL FOR JAPAN PLATTS - Saudi Arabia's commitment to the OPEC-led production output cut deal was confirmed with reduced exports to key Asian outlets in 2017, but Japanese imports of Saudi crude jumped to the highest level in 35 years as the kingdom also maintained its flexibility to meet demand whenever there is a need. Japan's crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia rose 9.5% year on year to 1.295 million b/d in 2017, or 40.1% of total imports in the year, and the country's imports of Saudi crude in 2017 were the highest since 1982, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry data.

2018, February, 7, 07:50:00 JAPAN'S LNG MAXIMUM REUTERS - Japan’s imports of LNG rose to nearly 8.7 million tonnes last month, up 8 percent from December and the largest volume since at least January, 2013, according to ship tracking data on Thomson Reuters Eikon that stretches back five years.

2018, January, 31, 10:45:00 SAUDI - QATAR COMPETITION BLOOMBERG - Oil exports from Qatar, one of OPEC’s smaller crude producers, to Japan last year slumped by almost a quarter to its lowest level since 1990, while shipments from giant supplier Saudi Arabia grew 8.1 percent, boosting its market share in the Asian nation to a record. Over in South Korea, imports from Qatar sank 26 percent to the least in seven years.

2018, January, 3, 15:45:00 SAUDIS OIL TO JAPAN UP 19.3% PLATTS - Japan's crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia rose 19.3% month on month to an average of 1.39 million b/d in November, preliminary data released Thursday by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed.

2017, December, 11, 09:55:00 SAUDIS OIL FOR JAPAN REUTERS - State oil company Saudi Aramco last week raised prices for all crude oil grades to Asia in January.