TOKYO: The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council provided Japan with nearly 98 percent of its crude oil imports in July, according to data from the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry. This makes Arab oil more crucial than ever in meeting Japanese energy needs. Japan didn’t import any oil from Russia in July in accordance with measures imposed as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Out of the 81.05 million barrels imported by Japan, GCC members UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman provided 79.17 million barrels or 97.7 percent, according to METI. UAE crude made up the largest percentage of imports into Japan with 33.99 million barrels (41.9 percent). Saudi oil came second with 28.47 million barrels (35.1 percent). Qatar provided 7.34 million barrels (9.1 percent), while crude from Kuwait amounted to 6.59 million barrels (8.1 percent). Exports from Bahrain came to 1.32 million barrels (1.6 percent) and Oman provided 998,782 barrels (1.2 percent) of Japan’s total imports in July, METI data showed. Japan also imported 440,000 barrels, (0.5 percent) of the total, from the Khafji oil field of the Neutral Zone that belongs to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The remainder, according to METI, comprising 2.3 percent of total Japanese crude imports, came from Ecuador (1.8 percent) Vietnam and Thailand (0.4 percent) and Oceania (0.1 percent). The figures cited represent the quantities of oil that arrived at refineries, tanks and warehouses located at ports in Japan during July 2022. — This article orignally appeared in Arab News Japan