Japan to diversify crude supplies, back Mideast pipelines in resilience effort, media say

TOKYO: Japan intends to provide assistance for alternate oil pipelines in the Middle East, aiming to enhance energy security following the Iran war, according to local media on Wednesday. Prior to the conflict's onset in February, Japan's fourth-largest economy depended significantly on oil imports passing through the now-blocked Strait of Hormuz.

The Nikkei daily reported that Japan will aid initiatives by Saudi Arabia and other nations to expand and construct new routes for crude, avoiding the waterway. Japan has already utilized its oil reserves to tackle supply issues and increased crude imports from various countries, including the United States. Additional measures to be decided by a government meeting later on Wednesday include a plan for a special crude oil reserve to produce naphtha, a broadcaster NHK reported.

Naphtha, an oil by-product, is utilized across numerous industries. The government is also anticipated to advocate for maximizing the use of nuclear power, NHK said, and provide support for next-generation perovskite solar cells. In part, this is to meet a projected surge in power demand from AI; Japan has already been working to revive its nuclear power sector, 15 years after the Fukushima disaster.