Major Crude Importer Japan Concerned With Jump In Oil Prices

Resource-poor Japan, a major importer of crude oil and natural gas, is increasingly concerned that the rally in oil prices would slow the global economic recovery, a senior government official told the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) this week. Hikariko Ono, Director General of Economic Affairs Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, “expressed concern over the rapid surge in crude oil prices, which could hamper the global economic recovery from COVID-19,” Japan’s foreign ministry said in a statement after a video conference between Ono and the IEA’s Executive Director Fatih Birol.