Japan starts release of oil from reserves as war snarls flows

Published Mon, Mar 16, 2026 · 02:01 PM

[TOKYO] Japan started releasing oil from the nation’s reserves, as the war in the Middle East threatens the energy security of importers.

The amount of crude refiners must keep in reserve, which forms part of the country’s strategic holdings, will be lowered from Mar 16 to Apr 15, the government said in a statement posted in the official gazette on Monday (Mar 16). There will be a temporary formula for calculating the required volume, it said.

The global oil market has been pitched into turmoil by the war between the US, Israel and Iran, with the conflict prompting the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical trade route for cargoes from the Persian Gulf. Japan relies heavily on the Middle East for its oil-import needs, with almost 96 per cent coming from the region in 2024, according to the Petroleum Association of Japan.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said last week that Japan would release 80 million barrels to stabilise the economy. The premier said the government would go ahead with the move unilaterally, ahead of a wider agreement from International Energy Agency members for a record 400-million-barrel release.

Japan would sell oil from its national reserves at prices based on levels before the start of the war, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Ryosei Akazawa said last Friday. He left open the possibility that surplus products made from the crude could be shipped overseas if local demand was not strong enough.

US President Donald Trump has said he hoped countries, including Japan, China, South Korea, France, and the UK, would send ships to join an effort to reopen Hormuz. Still, Japan’s Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told parliament on Monday that the nation currently had no plans to do so. BLOOMBERG