Japan's total oil sales fall to lowest in Oct for at least 37 yrs

TOKYO: Japan's total oil sales fell to the lowest level in at least 37 years for the month of October, trade ministry data showed on Thursday, amid a continued decline in consumption due to a shrinking and ageing population.

Total oil sales fell 2.2 percent from a year ago to 2.82 million bpd (13.89 million kilolitres) last month, marking the lowest for the month of October in data going back to 1980, data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) showed.

Naphtha sales rose 8.6 percent last month from a year earlier on the back of near full runs at Japan's naphtha crackers, while kerosene demand gained 7.4 percent due to cooler weather. But they were more than offset by sluggish demand for fuel oil, gasoline and gasoil.

Japan's crude oil imports last month fell 4.2 percent from a year earlier to 2.93 million barrels per day (14.43 million kilolitres), which was the lowest for the month of October in data going back to 1989.