TOKYO (IRNA-KUNA) -- Japan's crude oil imports from Kuwait edged down 0.1 percent in October from a year earlier to 8.30 million barrels but soared 32.5 percent from the previous month, according to the report released Friday by the government agency.

Kuwait provided 6.4 percent of nation's crude oil in the month, compared with 5.9 percent in September and 7.0 percent in the same month of last year, the Japanese Natural Resources and Energy Agency, a unit of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, said in a preliminary report.
Japan is Kuwait's largest oil buyer.
Japan's overall imports of crude oil increased 8.3 percent in October from a year earlier to 128.86 million barrels for the first growth in two months, with imports from the Middle East accounting for 87.5 percent of the total, down 2.3 percentage points from the year before and slightly dropped 0.2 percent from September for the fifth consecutive month of decline.
Saudi Arabia remained Japan's biggest oil supplier, although imports from the country shrank 5.9 percent from a year earlier to 36.33 million barrels, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 32.06 million barrels, up 15.6 percent. Qatar became third, with imports rising 10.9 percent to 15.51 million barrels. Iran ranked fourth with 13.31 million barrels, up 10.4 percent.
Japan contains almost no oil reserves, but the nation is the world's third-largest oil consumer after the U.S. and China.
Japanese oil companies procure about 80 percent of their crude oil through direct-dealing transactions.