METI in its September tender had planned to offer up to 180,000 kl of Khafji crude -- a heavy sour grade which comes from the Saudi-Kuwait Partitioned Neutral Zone -- from the Shibushi terminal in southwestern Japan.
The September tender would be in line with the ministry prioritizing the purchase of lighter crudes for the next few months as part of its efforts to replace medium and heavy crude stocks from its SPR with lighter grades, to reflect growing domestic demand for lighter oil products, the source said.
Following tenders in April, May and July, METI has sold a combined total of 700,000 kl of crude from its strategic reserves as part of its plan to sell up to 900,000 kl of SPR crude in the fiscal year ending March 2011.
METI has, however, only bought 100,000 kiloliters (628,980 barrels) of light Middle Eastern crudes through a September 15 tender issued by state-owned Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation.
Jogmec's tender sought a total 200,000 kl (1.25 million barrels) of light crude with a minimum gravity of 36 API on a CFR basis for delivery over December 1-20 to the government's Shibushi terminal.
Jogmec, however, only bought 100,000 kl of the light Middle Eastern crude via the tender and did not receive any bids for a separate tender issued the same day to lease crude storage tanks in Japan with a capacity of around 1.90 million barrels or 300,000 kl under an annual contract. The second tender also sought 300,000 kl of light Middle Eastern crudes on a CFR basis for delivery over November 21-December 20 to fill the leased tanks.
Japan, a member of the International Energy Agency, currently holds 94 days' worth of consumption in its strategic reserves and 72 days' worth of consumption in private stockpiles.
Japan began stockpiling oil in 1972 when the private sector informally started storing oil equivalent to 52 days of consumption, or 17 million kl of oil products and 16 million kl of crude.
The government set up its strategic reserves in 1978, starting with 88 days' worth of consumption.
China Chemical Weekly: http://news.chemnet.com/en/detail-1411716.html
