Japan's oil product exports fell 25.4% week on week to 4.02 million barrels over December 16-22 due mainly to decreased exports of gasoline, jet fuel and gasoil, according to data released Thursday by the Petroleum Association of Japan.
Gasoline exports fell 36.8% week on week to 564,276 barrels in the week to December 22, while jet fuel exports slid 26.7% from a week ago to 1.26 million barrels.
Gasoil exports also plunged 50.9% week on week to 1.02 million barrels in the week to December 22, and high sulfur fuel oil exports decreased 3.7% from a week ago to 554,545 barrels.
Exports of kerosene, which has similar specifications to jet fuel, came in at 314,519 barrels in the week to December 22 after no record of the middle distillate export in the previous week.
Low sulfur fuel oil exports, however, came in at 202,645 barrels in the week ended December 22, up nearly six times from 34,538 barrels in the week earlier.
Meanwhile, Japanese refiners cut LSFO imports by 15.4% week on week to 253,757 barrels in the week over December 16-22. There was no record of HSFO import in the week to December 22. PAJ's weekly oil stats only cover fuel oil for imports.
PAJ released its weekly oil statistics Thursday instead of Wednesday because of a public holiday in Japan Monday. PAJ will next release two sets of weekly oil statistics for December 23-29 and December 30-January 5 on January 9, 2019, because of the New Year holiday next week.
