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Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: monu who wrote (65304)	4/26/2000 2:10:00 PM
From: Think4Yourself	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Japan March Crude Stocks Lowest Since 1973-MITI TOKYO, April 26 (Reuters) - Japan's crude oil inventories at the end of March were at their the lowest since the March 1973 oil crisis as high crude oil prices limited imports and prompted a drawdown in stocks, a government official said on Wednesday. Japan's crude stocks at the end of March totalled 15.79 million kilolitres (kl), down 18.9 percent from a year before and down 9.2 percent from February, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said. "For March, crude throughput was relatively high, while high crude oil prices made importers wary of importing crude oil actively. That's a major reason behind the low crude inventories," a MITI official said. MITI said Japan's crude oil throughout in March rose 2.7 percent from a year before while crude imports fell 11.6 percent from a year before. In early March, NYMEX crude oil soared above $34.0 per barrel, its highest since the 1990/91 Gulf war, as worries about global supply mounted. On Wednesday, the NYMEX June crude oil price was last traded at $25.15 per barrel as of 0620 GMT. The official attributed firmer crude oil throughput in March to robust oil product demand. MITI said Japan's output of oil products at the end of March amounted to 21.10 million kl, up 4.4 percent from the same month a year earlier, led by gains in kerosene, gasoline and A-typed fuel oil. MITI said oil refiners' utilisation rate for March stood at 84.6 percent, compared with 81.4 percent in March 1999. It said the average utilisation rate for the business year ended in March fell to 77.1 percent from the 1998/1999 average of 77.8 percent due mainly to refiners' efforts to reduce crude runs.