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Japan won”t dip into strategic oil reserves | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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TOKYO-Japan has no plans to begin using its

strategic oil reserves, and instead will look toward energy conservation efforts to ease the effects of suring oil prices, a top Japanese trade ministry official said Thursday, according to AP.

&#34Looking at the domestic oil market, we don”t see supply tightening for crude oil … and we don”t plan to hold talks with the IEA (International Energy Agency, an oil market watchdog) on releasing oil reserves (into the market),&#34 Hideji Sugiyama, Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, told a news conference.

As of May 31, the Japanese government held 50.99 million kiloliters, or 320.7 million barrels, of state-owned crude stocks to guard against supply disruptions.

Oil prices rose on Thursday to a record US$65.23 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange on concerns about tight gasoline supplies amid refinery shutdowns in the United States and tensions between Iran, a major oil producer, and Western countries.