Japan's refiners secured sufficient crude supplies through November, industry body says

TOKYO, Sept 18 : Japanese oil refiners have secured sufficient crude supplies through November despite concerns that fresh fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthis could widen Middle East tensions, the Petroleum Association of Japan said on Friday.

Oil prices climbed to close to four-month highs earlier this week as sources said crude loadings at Saudi Arabia's Red Sea export hub of Yanbu had been suspended and Riyadh cancelled some deliveries to Europe after its East-West pipeline was damaged in an attack last week.

Here are some details:

• Crude oil shipments from Saudi Arabia have not stopped entirely, thanks to ship-to-ship transfers outside the Strait of Hormuz, PAJ President Shunichi Kito told reporters in Tokyo.

• "In some cases, oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz at Saudi Arabia's risk before being transferred to us outside the Gulf. For that reason, supplies from Saudi Arabia have not ceased entirely," he said, adding that he could not say that the situation would continue.

• Kito, also chairman of Japan's second-largest refiner, Idemitsu Kosan, said refiners had secured sufficient supplies through November by drawing on stockpiles from previous releases of Japan's national oil reserves, without needing additional releases.

• However, he said he could not rule out the possible need for additional releases from Japan's national reserve, as it was difficult to predict how the situation would evolve.