Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced on Tuesday that Japan will begin releasing emergency oil reserves on Thursday as the Japanese government attempts to curb surging energy prices, due to the situation in the Middle East, according to Japanese media reports.
Mainichi Shimbun noted that this comes as “concerns over supply mount and oil prices soar amid the ongoing [U.S.]-Israeli war with Iran.” The move came after Japan started releasing oil from private-sector stockpiles last week. The Japanese government plans to sell about 8.5 million kiloliters of oil from its reserves into the market, the report said.
