Executive Director for International Affairs at National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Seyyed Mohsen Ghamsari touched upon the latest status of Iran’s oil exports to Japan saying “the oil sale contract between Iran and Japan pertains to 120 thousand barrels per day; nevertheless, the East Asian country has purchased more oil from Iran over the past three months.”
The official stated that Japan imported more than 200 thousand barrels of Iranian oil per day in the previous months emphasizing “Japan’s refining capacity is declining as it has decreased form five million barrels per day to 3.6 million and the downward trend continues.”
“In the present circumstances, Iran is able to gain a share of 160 to 200 thousand barrels of share in the Japanese market,” he underlined.
The NIOC official reacted last week to western media claims that Iran’s oil export to Japan has fallen drastically; “not only has the export volume not declined, but also it has soared,” he underlined.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Russia and Mexico account for 32%, 22.4%, 9.1%, 8.3%, 8% and 2.73% of Japan's oil market, respectively.
The greatest challenge facing Iran's return to the market is Japan's decreasing crude refining capacity.
One of Iran’s strategic plans is to capture about 10 per cent of the share in the Japanese market equal to about 350 thousand barrels per day in which case Iran will become Japan’s third-largest crude oil supplier.