The Japanese government is not planning to release its strategic crude oil reserves for now following the escalation of the US-Iran conflict, even though the country relies on the Middle East for more than 90pc of its crude imports.
The release of oil reserves is not intended as a measure to curve price increases, the country's trade and industry (Meti) minister Ryosei Akazawa said on 3 March, adding that such withdrawals are carried out to ensure stable supplies in the event of a shortage. Tokyo has no concrete plans to release oil reserves and will continue to monitor the supply situation while coordinating with the International Energy Agency (IEA), he said.
Japan held around 470mn bl of crude and oil product reserves at the end of December 2025, including national storage, private-sector stocks and joint stockpiling with oil-producing countries. This was equivalent to 214 days of consumption in line with IEA mandates, according to Meti.
Some of the oil tankers bound for Japan from the Middle East have suspended passage through the strait of Hormuz and are currently waiting inside the Mideast Gulf. But the impact on Japan's domestic supply situation may be limited, at least for now, as some tankers bound for Japan are already en route, and domestic inventories and national reserves are in place, Japanese refiner Cosmo Oil told Argus on 2 March.
Japan imported 2.34mn b/d of crude from Middle East producers in January, accounting for 95.1pc of its total imports in January, which came in at 2.46mn b/d, according to preliminary Meti data.
The escalating conflict has pushed Middle East crude benchmarks to multi-year highs, and uncertainty over Hormuz transits and insurance has slowed physical trade. Backwardation in medium sour Dubai widened sharply on 2 March — the front-month May Dubai contract's premium to third-month July rose to $4.60/bl, up by $3.53/bl from the previous session, the highest since January 2025, when US sanctions on Russian producers stoked supply concerns.
Japan's stockpiling law is generally focused on supply security, not price control. But the country sold 9mn bl from its national oil serves and 6mn bl from private-sector stocks in April 2022, following a 7.5mn withdrawal of private-sector stocks in March 2022, as part of a joint effort with oil-consuming countries to reduce fuel prices.
