Nippon Oil Drops Gasoline Import Plan to Ease U.S. Supply Shortages

By Kyodo News International, Tokyo

Sep. 28–TOKYO — Japan’s largest oil refiner, Nippon Oil Corp., said Tuesday it has scrapped a plan to import 30,000 kiloliters of gasoline ingredient in October to help soften supply shortages in the United States.

The move is designed to make it easier for U.S. oil companies to procure gasoline by increasing the volume of petroleum products available on the global market, the refiner said.

The action is meeting an International Energy Agency call to cooperate to help alleviate U.S. anxiety about oil supplies.

In a related development on Sept. 20, Nippon Oil and three other major oil wholesalers in Japan, which is among the IEA’s 26 member states, shipped a total of 25,000 kiloliters of gasoline to the United States aboard a tanker.

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