Japan to offer knowledge on oil stockpiling

Japan to offer knowledge on oil stockpiling

TOKYO (DPA): Japan's Ministry of International Trade and
Industry plans to offer know-how to other Asian countries on
stockpiling oil, ministry officials said Monday.

The ministry hopes that by boosting oil stockpiles in Asia,
Japan would be less vulnerable to any crisis affecting its
ability to procure such resources from elsewhere, the officials
said.

Japan leads other Asian countries in its system of stockpiling
oil, and the ministry is considering offering technology on
building and operating oil tanks and underground oil storage
facilities.

The ministry started sounding out Asian countries - mainly
members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which
consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar
(Burma), the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The ministry is also considering calling for the
standardization of data on oil supply in the Asian region to make
it easier to gauge the size of each country's stockpile.

Consumption of crude oil is growing again in Asia, in line
with the economic pickup there, and prices are showing signs of
rising.

Experts have pointed to worries of possible economic turmoil
in Asia if any political instability in the oil-producing Middle
East leads to a drastic shortage in supply.

Japan's stockpile in government and private facilities amounts
to 163 days of supply, standing at roughly 91 million kiloliters
in finished oil products.