KUNA reported that Kuwait's crude oil exports to Japan in December stood at 9.26 million barrels or 299,000 barrels per day down 5.8% from a year earlier.

The Japanese Natural Resources and Energy Agency said that as Japan's fifth biggest oil provider last month, Kuwait supplied 7.7% of the country's total crude imports compared with 7.8% in the same month of 2010. Kuwait's exports to Japan in the full year 2011 totaled 87.

Japan's overall imports of crude oil went down 5.4% YoY to 3.87 million barrels per day for the second straight month of fall. Shipments from the Middle East shrank 7.1% to 3.22 million barrels per day and accounted for 83.1% of the total down 1.6 percentage points from the year before.

Saudi Arabia seized the top spot, although imports from the kingdom declined 8.0% from a year earlier to 1.09 million barrels per day followed by the United Arab Emirates with 888,000 barrels per day up 2.9%. Qatar ranked third with 454,000 barrels per day unchanged and Iran became fifth with 332,000 barrels per day down 5.8%.

(Sourced from KUNA)