Japan 2022 crude import volume up 8.5%, first y/y rise in 10 years

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's customs-cleared crude oil imports rose 8.5% in 2022 from a year earlier, while the value of imported crude oil jumped 91.5% to 13.27 trillion yen due to soaring oil prices and a weaker yen, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Thursday.

Japan, the world's fourth-biggest crude buyer, imported 2.70

million barrels per day (156.62 million kilolitres) of crude oil

last year, the preliminary data showed.

It marked the first year-on-year volume increase in 10 years and the

crude oil import price per kilolitre hit a record 84,728 yen ($661), the highest since the compatible data became available in 1979, the MOF said.

Japan's imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in volume fell 3.1% to 71.998 million tonnes in 2022 from a year earlier, but the value of imported LNG soared 97.5% to record 8.45 trillion yen.

Imports of thermal coal for power generation increased 2.5%

in 2022 to 115.38 million tonnes, while the value of imported thermal coal surged 196.7%, the data showed.

For December, crude oil imports rose 1.2% to 3.02 million bpd (14.885 million kl) of crude oil from a year earlier.

Japan's imports of LNG totalled 6.062 million tonnes last month, down 13.8% from a year earlier.

Imports of thermal coal for power generation increased by 7.4%

in December to 10.598 million tonnes, the data showed.

Following is a preliminary breakdown of energy imports for 2022 and last month, with volumes of crude, oil products and gasoline/naphtha

in million kilolitres; LNG, LPG and coal in million tonnes; values in million yen.

2022 figures

Fuel Volume Yr/Yr (%) Value Yr/Yr (%)

Mineral Fuels n/a n/a 33,475,512 96.8

Crude Oil 156.619 8.5 13,270,104 91.5

Oil Products n/a n/a 2,833,457 32.4

(Mogas/Naphtha) 28.178 -16.4 2,147,192 29.9

LNG 71.998 -3.1 8,449,356 97.5

LPG 10.479 3.3 1,039,297 41.7

Coal 183.005 0.2 7,791,837 178.1

(Thermal Coal) 115.378 2.5 4,852,273 196.7

December figures

Fuel Volume Yr/Yr (%) Value Yr/Yr (%)

Mineral Fuels n/a n/a 3,183,405 44.1

Crude Oil 14.885 1.2 1,227,182 41.4

Oil Products n/a n/a 257,287 -1.4

(Mogas/Naphtha) 2.406 -15.5 168,577 -5.4

LNG 6.062 -13.8 817,516 36.8

LPG 0.901 -3.5 80,457 -6.9

Coal 16.374 3.2 797,958 108.1

(Thermal Coal) 10.598 7.4 556,958 157.5

($1 = 128.2300 yen)

(This story has been refiled to fix formatting)

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)