Japan September Oil Imports Rise 1.4%; LNG Climbs 11%

By Shigeru Sato and Michio Nakayama

Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's crude oil and natural gas imports increased in September as power utilities burned more fuels to generate electricity.

Japan, the third-biggest oil consumer, imported 18.43 million kiloliters, or about 3.86 million barrels a day, of crude last month, up 1.4 percent from a year earlier, a finance ministry report released in Tokyo today shows.

Imports of liquefied natural gas climbed 10.8 percent to 5.87 million metric tons.

In the six months ended Sept. 30, oil imports increased 3 percent to 117.4 million kiloliters while LNG shipments rose 4.3 percent to 34.25 million tons, the trade report shows.

To contact the reporters on this story: Shigeru Sato in Tokyo at ssato10@bloomberg.net;