TOKYO, April 6. /TASS/. Purchases of Russian oil by Japan in January and February 2023 were less than the country’s daily imports, an official of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry told TASS, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Japanese private companies bought 748,000 barrels of oil in Russia during the first two months of this year," the official said. "This is a very small quantity. For comparison, Japan imports an average of 2.7 mln barrels of oil per day," he noted.
"A certain amount of oil is being produced as part of the Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas project. This is not covered by the G7’s $60-per-barrel price cap on imports from Russia," the official informed. "This mechanism was agreed with the US and other Western nations. Purchases of oil from the Sakhalin-2 at higher prices do not undermine the G7’s unity and exceeding the $60-per-barrel ceiling does not violate mutual agreements," he noted.
Japanese companies imported Russian oil at an average price of $71.50 per barrel in January and $68.50 per barrel in February, according to TASS calculations based on statistics from the Japanese finance ministry.