Europe repaid Tokyo a favour by supporting oil stock release, Japan minister says
By Yuka Obayashi and Katya Golubkova
TOKYO, March 14 (Reuters) - Europe repaid Japan a favour when agreeing on a joint oil stockpile release this week to ease the supply crisis and price spikes caused by the Iran war, Japan's Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa said on Saturday.
The International Energy Agency on Wednesday agreed to release a record 400 million barrels of oil from strategic stockpiles to combat a spike in global crude prices since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran on February 28.
G7 member Japan, which relies on Middle Eastern oil for around 90% of its supplies, said it planned to release around 80 million barrels from its private and national oil reserves as its contribution starting from March 16.
At G7 and IEA meetings this week, Japan changed the minds of European leaders who initially were cautious of releasing oil stockpiles as their dependency on the Strait of Hormuz is smaller, Akazawa said on the sidelines of the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum in Tokyo.
"We understand that this is Europe's return of the favour that Japan released oil to help Europe in a difficult time during the Ukraine crisis in 2022," he said, referring to the oil price spikes and supply crisis following Russia's invasion of Ukraine four years ago.
Japan has stopped buying oil from Russia since then and has significantly increased liquefied natural gas imports from the United States - now at around 6% of Japan's total - and Japanese companies continue to boost their exposure to U.S. energy.
The countries are talking about possible Japanese participation in the $44 billion Alaska LNG project and nuclear power cooperation, among other areas, as the U.S. looks to increase its energy sales to its allies.
Over the weekend, U.S. energy and industrial officials gathered in Tokyo for the IPEM, a U.S. President Donald Trump "National Energy Dominance Council"-led inaugural forum to promote investments in Japan and Asia.
"The United States of America has the ability to deliver freedom of navigation and free supplies ... we have effectively displaced two-thirds of the Russian gas in all of Western Europe," U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Saturday as he opened up the event.
"Whether it's a geographic strait in the Middle East or whether it's a control of supply... we've got to have reliable, affordable, and secure supply, meaning from partners you trust that can deliver and not hold you literally hostage economically around any of these elements."
