Japan Begins 1st Release of State Oil Reserves in 4 Years

Tokyo, March 26 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government began releasing the country's state oil reserves Thursday, in an effort to ensure a stable supply of oil products amid Iran's de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following its conflict with the United States and Israel.

This is the first such release since 2022, after the start of Russia's full-fledged military aggression against Ukraine in February that year.

This time, about 8.5 million kiloliters, equivalent to 30 days of domestic consumption, will be released in stages from oil reserve bases across Japan.

On Thursday, crude oil was transferred from the Kikuma national petroleum stockpiling base in the city of Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, western Japan, to a nearby refinery of Taiyo Oil Co. via pipeline.

State oil reserves will be released from 11 facilities--five national oil stockpiling bases and six bases held by the private sector. In addition to the Kikuma base, eight bases will begin the release within this month, while the release from two national facilities--the Kamigoto base in the southwestern prefecture of Nagasaki and the Shibushi base in Kagoshima Prefecture, also southwestern Japan--will start Wednesday next week.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]