Tokyo (Platts)--7Jan2013/651 am EST/1151 GMT

Japan's largest refiner JX Nippon Oil & Energy has cut "slightly" its crude imports from Iran under a renewed annual contract beyond January 2013, company chairman Yasushi Kimura told Platts Monday.

Speaking on the sidelines of a New Year reception hosted by the Petroleum Association of Japan in Tokyo, Kimura said the company has renewed its annual Iranian crude import contract at a "slightly" reduced level, declining to elaborate on the volume.

Kimura said the slight reduction was in response to both international sanctions against Iran and diminishing domestic oil demand.

Until December 2012, JX Nippon Oil & Energy had an annual contract to import 80,000 b/d of Iranian crude. A second contract for 10,000 b/d expired at the end of March 2012.

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JX has declined to comment on the fate of the 10,000 b/d import contract since saying the National Iranian Oil Company had allowed it to keep the contract pending for renewal.

JX is the first Japanese refiner to have renewed its annual Iranian crude import contract in 2013, as all other Japanese refiners' import contracts are due to expire at the end of March.

Kimura, who is also president of the PAJ, said Japanese refiners are considering trimming their Iranian crude imports in 2013 in response to international sanctions and flagging domestic demand.

IMPORTS OF IRANIAN CRUDE RISE IN DECEMBER

Japan's imports of Iranian crude in December amounted to 6 million barrels, up 10% from 5.46 million barrels in November, according to a Platts estimate Friday based on tanker tracking data and industry information.

Based on the data, Japanese imports of crude from Iran in December are expected to have averaged around 194,000 b/d, against imports of 182,000 b/d in November.

The December imports represent the largest monthly import volume since international sanctions against Iran took effect at the end of June.

Over January-November 2012, Japan's Iranian crude imports averaged 188,000 b/d, down 40% from a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Japan's imports of crude from Iran have stabilized since July when it did not import any Iranian crude for the first time since February 1981. Barrels loaded in late July did not show up in Japan's import statistics for the month as the Iran-Japan voyage takes around 19 days.

Japanese companies were unable to load crude from Iran from mid-June to mid-July, when it was unclear whether protection and indemnity cover for tankers carrying Iranian oil would be available after the start of EU shipping insurance sanctions on July 1. Imports from Iran were only made possible by the introduction at the end of June of a new supplementary insurance framework set up by the Japanese.

Japan's imports of crude from Iran have been falling in recent years and are set to fall further in line with an agreement with the US that will allow Japanese banks continued access to the US financial system in return for a pledge to reduce the country's purchases of Iranian crude.

The US on September 14 renewed 180-day waivers for 10 European countries and Japan from sanctions aimed at curtailing Iran's petroleum sales.

--Takeo Kumagai, takeo_kumagai@platts.com
--Atsuko Kawasaki, atsuko_kawasaki@platts.com
--Edited by Wendy Wells, wendy_wells@platts.com

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