Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Wednesday the country will start releasing part of its oil reserves as early as on March 16. This comes amid supply disruptions due to the blockade of oil and gas passage Strait of Hormuz over the West Asia conflict.
The prime minister said Japan plans to release 15 days worth of private-sector oil reserves and one month’s worth of state oil reserves, reported Reuters.
The US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 sparked an exchange of drones and missiles that has still not ended. Iran and its allies, in retaliation, have blocked the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to hit any ship that passes through it.
Strait of Hormuz chokehold
Tehran has been retaliating by attacking targets across the oil-rich Gulf, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and the UAE, and effectively shutting down the Strait of Hormuz.
There so far has been no sign that ships can resume sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil has been blockaded behind a narrow channel along the Iranian coast in the worst disruption to energy supplies since the oil jolts of the 1970s.
Japan’s decision comes as the Group of Seven advanced economies inched closer Wednesday to look to strategic oil reserves in a bid to tackle the rise in crude oil prices due to the Middle East conflict.
The announcement came before G7 leaders were set to discuss the widespread economic fallout from the US-Israeli war with Iran, now into its second week, at a video conference meeting chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron.
On Tuesday, member states of the Paris-based International Energy Agency held crisis talks to assess the security of supply and the potential release of emergency stocks as the conflict rocks the markets.
“In principle, we support the implementation of proactive measures to address the situation, including the use of strategic reserves,” AFP news agency quoted energy ministers of the G7, of which France currently holds the rotating presidency, as saying in a statement on Wednesday.
The Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
