Conundrum Iraq (Japan Times)

[struggle4progress]

By ERIC PRIDEAUX
Staff writer

<snip> At this significant juncture, The Japan Times asked Keiko Sakai, one of the country's top authorities on the Middle East, to share her outlook on the surely momentous year ahead. <snip>

(Q:) Iraq is said to have the world's second-largest oil reserves, yet Japan -- which gets 87 percent of its oil from the Middle East -- imports only a tiny portion from Iraq. So what is the connection between stability in Iraq and the steady supply of oil to Japan?

(A:) Japan does want oil from Iraq. Japan's oil imports from Iraq were once larger, and the reason they declined was due to the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, when supply became unfeasible. Iraq's oil is particularly suitable for Japanese refineries -- especially the varieties of light petroleum, Kirkuk Light Crude and Basra Light Crude. Japan has been buying lots of oil from the United Arab Emirates because it is similar to Iraqi oil, but ideally it wants the Iraqi variety. <snip>

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20050109x1.htm