thejapan times THE INDEPENDENT VOICE IN ASIA Japan’s oil stockpiles come into spotlight following Russia's invasion of Ukraine A state ollreserve facility in Fukui Prefecture in November. Japan's strategic oll reserves are held in government-owned and commerci facilities across the country. | KYODO On Tuesday, the International Energy Agency decided to release 60 million barrels of oil reserves (hitps://www,japantimes.co,jp/news/2022/03/02/ lease/) as a step toward stabilizing global oil markets, which have been rattled by Russia's invasion of Ukraine (hups://www japantimes.co,jp/tag/russia-ukraine- criss), The action was the first such move by the 31 IEA member states since 2011, when they released 60 million barrels in response to the disruption caused by Libya's civil war. Japan is an IEA member and has its own oil reserves, most of which are located at domestic facilities. iness/iea-oil-reserv‘What is the IEA and the policies for member countries regarding their oil reserves? The IEA was formed in 1974, following the 1973-74 Middle East oil crisis, when industrialized countries like Japan that relied heavily on oil imports realized they were ill prepared to deal with an oil embargo by top producers, which sent prices soaring. Japan was one of the founding members, along with the United States, Canada, Turkey, the United Kingdom, West Germany and other European countries. IEA members must agree to keep emergency oil stocks, When a crisis occurs that affects international prices and supplies of oil, IEA members may meet, as they did on Tuesday, to release some of their own reserves onto the world market in order to ease supply worries. IEA members hold emergency stockpiles of 1.5 billion barrels in total. The recent announcement said that 60 million barrels will be made available. ‘The U.S. has agreed to release half of that total. Japan, which is coordinating with the U.S., will soon decide how much of its own reserves to release. What is Japan’s oil reserves policy? Japan's strategic oil reserves are held in government-owned and commercial facilities across the country. The I standard is 90 days’ worth to be held in government facilities and 70 days’ worth in commercial facilities. current standard is for a member country to have enough oil reserves for 90 days. Japan’s minimum ‘Then there are the crude oil inventories of national oil companies based in oil-producing states that are stored in Japan-based tanks. This is known as the joint oil-produi ing countries stockpile program. It’s an agreement between the Japanese government and the national firms of oil-producing nations and is designed to give Japanese firms priority supply in times of crisis. For these tanks, the IEA and Japanese standard is to maintain four days’ worth of reserves. China’s Xi engulfed in crises just when he wanted stability mostHow much oil does Japan currently have in reserve and where is it located? As of last month, 45.47 million Kiloliters of crude oil and 1.43 million kiloliters of refined oil were held in government-owned facilities within Japan, or 146 days’ worth of oil. Another 12.45 million kiloliters of crude oil and 16.36 kiloliters of refined oil was being held at commercially owned tanks and facilities — amounting to 92 days’ worth, Domestically, the oil is being stored in 10 government-owned facilities and another 10 storage tank facilities that are being rented by the government. All facilities are located in coastal regions, from Hokkaido to Okinawa, Hokkaido, Aomori, Niigata and Okinawa prefectures have two storage facilities each. Akita, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Chiba, Fukui, Ehime, Yamaguchi, Fukuoka and Nagasaki prefectures have one facility each. Kagoshima prefecture has three locations for the reserves. Has Japan ever released its oil reserves? ‘There have been a number of times that Japan has, both in coordination with the IEA and on its own, released some ofits reserves. In 1991, during the Gulf War, four days’ worth of oil was released from commercially held in cooperation with the IEA. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which hit oil-producing regions of the U.S,, another three days’ worth of reserves, again from commercially-held facilities in cooperation with the IEA, was released, facili In March 2011, following the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, the government on its own accord ordered that 25 days’ worth of reserves be released from commercial facilities. Three months later, three days’ worth of oil was released from commercial facilities in cooperation with the IEA in response to the Libyan civil war. In November last year, Japan coordinated with other countries to release a couple of days’ worth of oil from government-held stocks due to high crude oil prices. This was done without IEA coordination. What countries does Japan import oil from? In 2020, Japan imported about 2.5 million barrels of crude oil a day and about 90% came from just four countries in the Middle Bast. Saudi Arabia was the largest source of oil, accounting for 40.1% of imports, followed by the UAE, which provided 31.5% of the total, while 9% came from Kuwait and 8.3% from Qatar. RECOMMENDED FOR YOU China’s Xi engulfed in crises just when he wanted stability most(bus: /edn-japantimes com /wp-content/uploads/2022/0Q/np, fle. L44785jpes) ‘A gas station in the city of Nagano in January. In November last year, Japan coordinated with other countries to release a couple of days’ worth of oil rom government-held stocks due to high crude oll prices.| KYODO Russia provided a very small percentage of crude oil imports, just 4.1%, and 1.7% of Japan's oil came from the US. The remainder came from a handful of other countries, including Ecuador, Kazakhstan, Oman and Bahrain. What happened to the oil markets with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and what is Japan's future oil reserves policy? The IEA notes says that while the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops had not resulted in an immediate loss of oil supplies to the market, prices rose and created uncertainty and volatility in international markets, Russia is the world’s third largest oil producer after the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. As of January, it produced 11.3 million barrels per day, while the U.S. was producing 17.6 million barrels per day and Saudi Arabia, 12 million barrels per day. Russia is also the world’s largest oil exporter to global markets, the IEA notes. While Japan relies very little on Russian oil for its own needs, the ability of Russia to influence world oil markets (htps:/ www japantimes.co,jp/news/2022/03/03/business/economy-business/fuel-spike-japan-inflation-policymaker/), especially the price of Middle Eastern oil, means that Japan will continue to prioritize stockpiling oil as part of its overall energy strategy. ‘The Basic Long-Term Energy Plan approved by the Cabinet in October sets the strategy for 2030, with an eye China’s Xi engulfed in crises just when he wanted stability mostIn atime of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right. SUBSCRIBE’ Now StM-s0urce=itemutm_medium=general- RECOMMENDED FOR YOU China's Xi engulfed in crises just when he wanted stability most