Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 29/ Trend M. Moezzi/
While Iran's oil exports plunged 38 percent in late November/December, Kuwait joined Qatar in replacing Iran's oil shipments to Japan for the second consecutive month, Pana News Agency reported.
After racing ahead of Iran in developing the Joint South Pars gas field and producing 77 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually, Qatar took a share of Iran's oil exports to Japan in October.
In 2010, Iran shipped 374,000 barrels a day (bpd) of crude oil to 11 Japanese companies. In October 2011 (Iranian month of Mehr) this figure had dropped to 262,000 bpd (a 112,000 bpd decrease) Reuters reported.
In a recent report published by, Platts, an international energy news source, Japan's ministry of economy said Iran was its fifth largest oil supplier, with 228,000 bpd, behind Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Qatar, for November 2011.
According to Iran's own oil ministry it was exporting 425,000 bpd of oil to Japan in May 2011. This made it Japan's third largest oil provider after Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
In November 2011, Iran exported 38 percent less oil to Japan than it did in November 2010, Platts reported.
Meanwhile, this November Saudi Arabia's oil exports to Japan stood at 1.16 million barrels per day (mbpd) and the UAE's 824,000 bpd.
In the first 9 months of 2011, south Persian Gulf countries' oil exports to Japan grew by 40 percent, Pana News reported.
Japan is the world's third largest oil consumer after the United States and China. It imports more than 50 percent of its crude oil.