(Adds details, table)
TOKYO, June 25 (Reuters) - The volume of Japan's
customs-cleared crude oil imports rose 8.0 percent in May from
the same month last year, marking the eighth straight month of
year-on-year gains, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday.
The rise follows the prolonged shutdown of the world's
biggest nuclear power plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co
(9501.T) (TEPCO), after a major earthquake last July. The
shutdown doubled TEPCO's demand for direct-burning crude and fuel
oil for thermal generation.
Overall, Japan's domestic oil sales have been shrinking
around 4 percent a year since 2006, and the government expects
the slide to continue for several years as oil prices soar and
industries shift to electricity or alternative power sources.
But the fall in sales has been offset by a recent surge in
oil exports, especially middle distillates such as gas oil, as
the nation's refiners have taken advantage of wide margins amid a
shortage in Asia.
Japan, the world's third-biggest oil consumer, imported
18.525 million kilolitres (3.76 million barrels per day) of crude
oil last month, the preliminary data showed.
The 8.0 percent increase came as the Middle East increased
crude exports to Japan by 5 percent in May to 16.393 million kl,
the data showed. Saudi Arabia, the top oil exporter to Japan, has
boosted its crude supplies to Japan to full contracted volumes
since last November.
In April, Japan's crude oil imports were 21.276 million kl,
up 10 percent from a year ago.
The value of May's crude imports increased 53.4 percent to
1.303 trillion yen ($12.09 billion) from a year earlier,
following a 55.0 percent annual rise in April.
The Japan Crude Cocktail price, or the average price for
customs-cleared crude oil imports, jumped to a record $107.61 a
barrel in May, topping the revised record $100.71 hit in April.
The May JCC price was up 63 percent from $65.83 a year ago.
The JCC is used as a benchmark for liquefied natural gas
prices for Japanese buyers.
In yen terms, the JCC price in May was an all-time high of
70,321 yen per kl, topping the previous record of a revised
63,780 yen hit in April.
The May yen-based JCC price was up 42 percent from 49,512 yen
a year earlier.
The value of mineral fuel exports to China more than tripled
to more than 70 billion yen in May from a year ago, helped by
China's robust thirst for Japan's high-quality low-sulphur diesel
used by trucks, ministry officials said.
Following is a preliminary breakdown of energy imports for
the month of May (volumes of crude, oil products and
gasoline/naphtha in million kilolitres; LNG, LPG and coal in
million tonnes; values in billion yen; year-on-year percentage
changes in parentheses):
MAY
PRODUCT VOLUME VALUE
----------------------------------------------------------
Mineral fuels N/A 2,178.220 (+40.1%)
Crude oil 18.525 (+8.0%) 1,302.728 (+53.4%)
Oil products N/A 193.374 (+11.1%)
Gasoline/naphtha 2.088 (-17.3%) 143.147 (+1.2%)
LNG 5.217 (-13.5%) 327.872 (+21.1%)
LPG 1.175 (-11.7%) 105.430 (+15.5%)
Coal 15.708 (-6.7%) 239.366 (+47.4%)
($1=107.81 Yen)
(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori)
