Japan opens tender to sell oil from strategic reserves

Japan has given notice of the planned sale of crude oil from state reserves as part of a coordinated effort by the International Energy Agency to stabilize the market amid Russia's actions in Ukraine, Report informs referring to Kyodo News.

An auction will be held on May 10 for about 4.8 million barrels of crude oil from three reserve bases, part of the 9 million barrels Tokyo is set to release from national stockpiles, according to the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has pledged that Japan will release 15 million barrels of oil reserves as part of a collective oil stock release of 120 million barrels by the 31 IEA members.

About 280,000 kiloliters of oil will be released from Shirashima National Petroleum Stockpiling Base in Kitakyushu, about 320,000 kl from the Kamigoto national oil storage facility in Nagasaki Prefecture, and about 160,000 kl from the Eneos Kiire terminal in Kagoshima, all in southwestern Japan.