Japan to tap joint oil stockpiles, PM says, with no end seen to supply crisis

Japan will tap joint oil stockpiles held by producing nations in the country by the end of March, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Tuesday, as Tokyo ramps up emergency measures to offset supply losses from the Middle East.

Global oil prices spiked to their highest levels since 2022 after the U.S. and Israel launched missile strikes on Iran on February 28. The Strait of Hormuz, a key route for oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, remains closed.

"We began releasing privately held reserves on March 16 and will begin releasing national reserves from the 26th," Takaichi said on social media.

"Furthermore, releases from jointly held stockpiles with oil-producing countries are also scheduled to begin later in March."

Japan's contribution to a record oil stockpile release coordinated by the International Energy Agency will total nearly 80 million barrels, consisting mainly of crude oil, according to the IEA.

In addition, some 13 million barrels, or a total of seven days of supply, are jointly held in Japan by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Of those, Japan will use five days' worth of supply, industry minister Ryosei Akazawa said.

NO STRAIT OF HORMUZ TANKERS SAIL TOWARDS JAPAN

Two tankers, one sailing from the Red Sea's Yanbu port in Saudi Arabia, and another from Fujairah in the UAE – all bypassing the Strait of Hormuz - are heading to Japan, Akazawa said, and are expected to arrive this week and early April.

Another tanker from outside the Middle East is also heading to Japan, due to arrive in late April, Akazawa added.

Tehran is ready to let Japanese-related ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Kyodo news agency last week. But Kpler ship tracking data showed no Japan-bound tankers left the area since early March.

Mitsui O.S.K. and Nippon Yusen Kaisha, two major Japanese shipping companies with tankers stuck in the Gulf, have suspended transit and their vessels are waiting in a safe area, both companies said by email.

As Japan is tapping its reserve funds for gasoline subsidies and, according to Reuters sources, is looking at intervening in the crude oil futures market, local buyers are looking elsewhere, including to the U.S., for supplies.

Oil releases from private and public stockpiles can cover for external supplies until the end of April, said Shunichi Kito, president of the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ), the industry group that represents the country's major oil refiners. 

In a document presented to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday, the PAJ said alternative supplies would not reach Japan before June, even if purchased from the U.S. or elsewhere. Kito urged the government to consider an additional oil stockpile release.

While the IEA said it was consulting with governments in Asia and Europe on the release of more stockpiled oil, no decision was made in Japan with regard to a possible second strategic oil stockpile release, according to Akazawa.

Reuters