Saudis seen bolstering oil market share defence with Asian storage

Tokyo

SAUDI Arabia is poised to expand use of oil storage tanks in Japan and China, strengthening ties with its two largest Asian buyers as it fends off competitors for market share.

The world's biggest exporter plans to increase the amount of storage capacity it uses on Japan's Okinawa islands, where it's been leasing tanks since 2010, Amin Nasser, chief executive officer of Saudi Arabian Oil Co, said last Thursday in Tokyo. The state-run producer, known as Aramco, is negotiating for commercial and government crude storage projects in China to help the country import more Saudi crude, Oil Minister Khalid Al-Falih said in an interview with Al-Arabiya television.