Japan Crude Imports Plunge 66% in April on Hormuz Disruptions

Japan’s crude imports collapsed 66% year-on-year to 4.07 million kilolitres in April, the latest data point in a supply shock triggered by the Iran war and effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Tokyo responded with a May 27 decision to revert gasoline-subsidy calculations to the Dubai benchmark from June 4 after the Dubai-Brent spread narrowed, while launching Mercosur trade talks on May 26 to diversify oil and mineral supplies and dispatching officials to safeguard Mitsui and Mitsubishi stakes in the sanctioned-exempt Sakhalin-2 project. An 80 million-barrel domestic reserve release and participation in the IEA-coordinated 400 million-barrel global effort have partially offset the shortfall, yet April Middle East shipments still fell 68%.