Japan Asks U.A.E. for 'More Crude Oil' amid Market Crisis

Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa asked his United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) counterpart on Sunday to increase crude oil exports in an effort to stabilize the global petroleum market, which has experienced surging prices amid Russia’s latest war with Ukraine, Kyodo News reported on Monday.

“We are hoping for more crude oil supplies and contribution to market stabilization by ensuring production capacity,” Hayashi told U.A.E. Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on March 20, according to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Hayashi met with Al Nahyan on Sunday in Abu Dhabi as part of a four-day visit to the U.A.E. and Turkey from March 18 to March 21. The Japanese foreign minister expressed a nearly identical plea for the U.A.E. to increase its oil exports during a separate meeting in Abu Dhabi on March 20 with Sultan Al Jaber, the director of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

Hayashi told Al Jaber Tokyo “would like the UAE to contribute to the stabilization of the global crude oil market by further supplying crude oil and securing production capacity,” Japan’s Foreign Ministry said in a press release published on March 21, or one day after the meeting took place.

Al Jaber responded to Hayashi on Sunday by expressing a “strong desire to support Japan including through the stabilization of the global crude oil market,” according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

The U.A.E. government had not publicly commented on the meeting at press time on Monday.

Bloomberg explained some of the reasons behind Japan’s enthusiastic push for the U.A.E. to ramp up oil production on March 20, writing:

The U.S. and Europe have called on members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries — especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia — to raise crude output faster following a surge in prices above $100 a barrel. They’ve risen because of demand recovering from the coronavirus pandemic and, more recently, Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

OPEC has so far resisted those calls, saying in public that the run up in prices is more down to geopolitical tension than an imbalance between supply and demand. The group is in a partnership with other producers, including Russia, that’s known as OPEC+. The Saudis and Emiratis have both said they’re committed to that alliance.

Russia’s military launched an air and ground offensive in neighboring Ukraine on February 24 as part of Moscow’s latest territorial dispute with Kyiv. The conflict’s impact on the global oil market is especially significant to Tokyo, as Japan is a resource-scarce nation that relies heavily upon imports, including for nearly all of its national oil supply.

“The UAE is Japan’s 10th largest trading partner globally in 2021 and meets nearly 23 per cent of its total crude oil requirements,” Mohammed Al Shorafa, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED), said on February 1.

Al Shorafa noted the statistics during the eighth session of the Abu Dhabi-Japan Economic Council (ADJEC).