The company officials said on Tuesday that Showa Shell has renewed its contract with Tehran, which had expired last March, and is currently importing 60,000-70,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Iran, Oil Ministry's official news agency, SHANA, reported.
Japan's top refiner, JX Nippon Oil & Energy, which has a volume of 83,000 bpd with Iran, has emerged as the country's biggest buyer of Iranian crude.
The report comes as Monday’s data by the Japanese Ministry of Finance show that Japan's crude oil imports from Iran increased by more than 60 percent in June compared to the month of May as Japanese refiners ramped up their loadings from the Islamic Republic.
Customs-cleared imports from Iran increased to 170,389 bpd in June, compared to 106,162 bpd in the previous month.
Japanese industry and government sources announced on July 20 that the world’s third-largest economy loaded its first domestically-guaranteed shipment of Iranian crude oil after the US-engineered European Union (EU) oil embargo against Tehran went into effect at the start of this month.
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