Asia/Pacific News
Japan Fuel Oil Sales Fall to 56-Year Low
Warmer weather and a shrinking population have caused total oil product sales for Japan to drop to a 46-year low of 14.49 million kilolitres for November, with a 30.8 percent decline in fuel oil driving the drop, Reuters reports.
Figures from the country's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) show that despite lower prices, sales per day for that month were 3.04 million barrels, a 6.9 percent decrease from a year earlier.
An unnamed ministry official noted that fuel oil consumption - used in power generation as well as for bunkers - plummeted to 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) to a 56-year low.
Meanwhile, higher than average temperatures in eight major Japanese cities caused kerosene sales to fall to a 46-year low in November, a 14.7 percent decrease compared to November of 2014.
Only crude import enjoyed gains in November, to 3.26 million bpd.
The release of the November figures caps a year that saw Japan see dips in its bonded bunker sales: in April, METI revealed that the country sold 1.418 million barrels of bonded bunker fuel in May, a reduction of 10.7 percent from the previous month, and down 23.2 percent year on year.
