Japan's reliance on crude oil supplied from the Middle East has increased by one percentage point to 95.1% last year, data released by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed on Wednesday.
Japan imported 147.7 million kiloliters of oil last year (2.5 million barrels per day), down 7% from a year before, with the share of Saudi Arabia and the UAE rising to 40.4% and 39% from 38.1% and 37.9%, respectively.
Share of oil imports from Russia fell further to just 0.1% of total crude oil imports by Japan, down from 1.3% in 2022 and 4% in 2021, a year before Moscow invaded Ukraine, triggering Western sanctions.
Oil prices settled lower on Wednesday, pressured by low economic activity in leading crude importer China.
Brent crude futures for March, which expire on Wednesday, settled down 87 cents, or about 1.1%, to $82 a barrel, while the more actively traded April contract settled down 80 cents, or about 1%, at $81.70.
West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery fell 82 cents, or 1.1%, to $77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Manufacturing activity in China, the world's second-largest economy, contracted for a fourth straight month in January, an official factory survey showed on Wednesday.
"The factory data confirms our view that China, at least for now, is an impediment to global oil demand growth," said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM.
Meanwhile, the Israel-Hamas war has widened the conflict in the Red Sea between the United States and Iran-aligned Houthi militants.
But while that has disrupted oil and natural gas tanker shipping, which is driving up delivery costs and starting to affect oil supplies, a Reuters poll suggested that record production in the West and slow economic growth will keep a lid on prices and limit any geopolitical risk premium.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that current oil prices adequately reflect the current market situation, while global oil demand is widely seen rising by around 2 million barrels per day.
He declined to elaborate more just a day before leading ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, known as OPEC+, will meet online.
The panel, named the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, can call for a full OPEC+ meeting or make recommendations on policy.
OPEC+ will likely decide its oil production levels for April and beyond in the coming weeks, OPEC+ sources said, adding that a meeting of a key ministerial panel next Thursday would take place too early to take decisions on further output policy.
"The market requires silence; any words somehow affect the market. I want to say that the current (oil) price on the market adequately reflects the current situation," Novak told reporters.
