Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 29 -- Japanese imports of Middle East crude fell in 2006, dropping by 1% from 2005, when they represented 90.2% of the country's consumption.
The decline is attributed to efforts of government officials and domestic oil distributors that are eyeing new supply sources outside the Middle East, including Angola, Sudan, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Central Asia.
Nippon Oil Corp. and five other companies began sourcing supplies from the Sakhalin-1 oil and natural gas development project in Russia, while Idemitsu Kosan Co. recently signed an agreement to purchase crude oil from Azerbaijan.
In Angola, Japanese firms hold stakes in 13 different concessions, while in Sudan, reports say Japanese agencies have been negotiating for rights to oil concessions in the southern region of the country since 2005.
Last August, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi took a 4-day trip to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan with the aim of securing energy resources and boosting his country's presence in the two oil-producing Central Asian countries.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].