By Yuka Obayashi and Florence Tan
TOKYO/SINGAPORE, July 7 (Reuters) — Japan will see an increase in crude oil supply from the Middle East this month, as two Japanese-owned supertankers carrying Saudi oil have exited the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, according to shipping data.
These two tankers have joined others that left a day earlier, bringing the total amount of crude oil on Japan-related vessels leaving the strait this week to 16 million barrels, which helps to reduce the backlog of oil in the Gulf.
One tanker is owned and managed by Nippon Yusen KK, and the other is owned and managed by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, as indicated by LSEG data. Each tanker loaded 2 million barrels of Saudi crude on March 1, according to Kpler data.
The companies have not responded to requests for comments yet.
A spokesperson from the Japanese Shipowners’ Association mentioned that the number of Japanese-related vessels left in the Gulf has decreased from 45 at the beginning of the conflict to 26 now.
On Monday, six very large crude carriers, carrying a total of 12 million barrels of Middle Eastern crude, as well as two chemical tankers, a vehicle carrier, and a container ship, passed through the strait. The tankers are transporting oil from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, which was loaded between late February and early March.
Most of these vessels are managed by the Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL).
In addition to the stranded vessels, five VLCCs loaded with Saudi oil from Ras Tanura port are tentatively signaling for Japan, following the world’s top exporter resuming shipments in late June from its largest port situated inside the Gulf, Kpler data revealed.
Japan previously relied on the Middle East for 94% of its crude supply before the Iran conflict began in February. In April, oil imports plummeted to their lowest level in over 60 years due to a 68% year-on-year drop in supply from Gulf oil producers.
(Reporting by Florence Tan in Singapore; Chang-Ran Kim and Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo; Editing by Jamie Freed and Muralikumar Anantharaman)