Japan to release 7.5 million bbls of oil from reserves, says industry minister

INA-  sources

Japan will release 7.5 million barrels of oil from private reserves as a part of the International Energy Agency (IEA)-led coordinated release, its industry minister Koichi Hagiuda said on Friday.

The United States and other member states of the IEA on Tuesday agreed to release a total of 60 million barrels of oil reserves to compensate for supply disruptions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Japan is gathering information about Exxon Mobil Corp's recent announcement to exit the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in which a Japanese consortium owns a 30% stake to assess the impact on the country's energy supply.

"With the global crude oil supply and demand structure becoming unstable, the Sakhalin-1 is an important project for Japan which imports about 90% of its crude oil from the Middle East in terms of stable supply of energy," Hagiuda said.

"In light of intensified international sanctions against Russia, we will take measures appropriately in line with the G7, treating stable supply of energy and energy security as a national interest that should be protected to the maximum extent possible," he said.