Saudi Arabia to store oil in Japan

Saudi Arabia has signed a deal to put "millions of barrels" of oil in commercial storage in Japan, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi said.
"Asia will be a huge market and this will be a big take off," Al-Naimi said ahead of an OPEC meeting.

About half of the Kingdom's crude exports come to Asia, a share that is set to rise next year. Chinese state oil firms have agreed to raise 2010 crude imports from Saudi Arabia by about 12 % from this year to top 1 mm bpd, traders have said, making the world's No. 2 oil user an important client.
Oil demand has been steadily falling in Japan for years, a trend that accelerated this year in the face of the country's worst recession in decades, leaving the country with one mm bpd of excess refining capacity, according to some analysts.

Al-Naimi said Saudi Aramco had been offered the commercial storage for no charge. When asked for details of how the deal had been agreed, Al-Naimi said: "Through good negotiations."
The deal follows a similar move by Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC). The United Arab Emirates firm signed a final agreement with Japan's biggest oil refiner Nippon Oil earlier this month to store crude oil to help stock up Japan's national reserves.