Japan Backs Overseas Oil Pipelines to Reduce Hormuz Dependence

Japan is planning to join the rush to diversify oil export routes away from the Strait of Hormuz by investing in pipeline projects abroad, notably in the Middle East.

Citing a document produced by the country’s economy ministry, Bloomberg reported the investment will be made through Japanese companies in the form of risk-capital funding. Earlier this year, media reported that Saudi Arabia and the UAE had asked Japan to take part in the expansion of oil pipeline networks in the Middle East amid the rush to shift flows away from the Strait of Hormuz.

Before the Iran war, Japan and its refiners relied on the Middle East for a massive 95% of all crude imports. But the shock loss of supply forced refiners to seek alternatives and the government to release oil from strategic reserves to offset the lack of supply through the Strait of Hormuz.

As the war dragged on, the country’s energy imports from the Middle East plummeted by 67.2% in April compared to the same month of 2025. The April 2026 volume, estimated in Japan at 3.843 million kiloliters of crude oil, was the lowest since data collection began in 1979.

Since then, Japan has scrambled to replace Middle Eastern supply with alternative imports and to release crude from its strategic reserve. The bill, however, has been going on, reflecting international oil price movements. In June, Japan’s total import bill swelled to a record $89.46 billion because of oil, even though in volume terms, June oil imports were 13.7% lower than a year earlier.

This month’s oil imports into Japan are coming from sources that do not use the Strait of Hormuz to reach buyers, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in June. Two of these sources are the United States and Russia, as reported by a Japanese research outlet, Daiwa Institute of Research.

Source: Oilprice