Japan has started releasing oil from its reserve to stabilize supply amid the continuing tanker traffic freeze in the Strait of Hormuz.
Initially, the government will release 15 days’ worth of oil consumption and then continue with another 30 days’ worth at the end of the month, Japanese media reported.
Resource-poor Japan is overwhelmingly dependent on imported energy. In crude oil, Japanese refiners rely on imports from the Middle East for as much as 95% of their feedstocks. Most of the oil comes from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. Of these Middle Eastern supplies, about 70% typically arrive in Japan on tankers traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.
Because of that high level of dependence on foreign sources, refiners called on the government earlier this month to tap the oil reserve to avoid a supply crunch, according to a Bloomberg report citing unnamed sources. A Reuters report from last week cited a Japanese lawmaker as saying the government had asked the operator of the strategic oil storage site to prepare for emergency releases of crude.
At the end of 2025, Japan had 254 days of oil reserves, including 146 days’ worth of consumption in national reserves, and more than 100 days of inventories with the private sector. This is a much more comfortable supply cushion than, for instance, Australia’s, but if the crisis extends in time, the situation will become problematic for the G7 member, which boasts one of the largest oil reserves globally.
The last time Japan was forced to tap its oil reserves was in 2022, when, as a member of the International Energy Agency, it took part in a joint release of oil to calm down soaring oil prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The IEA is once again set to release oil from its joint stocks—the largest in history at a total of 400 million barrels.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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