日本增加進口俄國原油

Recently the NHK News reported the following:

ロシアが１年前に始めた東シベリア産の原油の輸出のうち、日本向けの割合が最も多かったことが明らかになり、日本にとっては原油の新たな調達先としてロシアの存在感が徐々に高まっています。
ロシア政府は、大規模な開発を進めている東シベリア産の原油をアジア太平洋地域向けに輸出するため、去年１２月、専用の港を極東に整備し、日本や中国などへの輸出に乗り出しました。輸出が始まってからちょうど１年となる２８日、専用の港を運営する政府系の企業が記者会見を行い、輸出の実績を明らかにしました。それによりますと、東シベリアからこの１年間に輸出された原油は、あわせて１５３０万トンに上り、このうち日本向けが全体の３０％と最も多くを占めました。政府系企業の代表は「政治と経済は別物だ」と述べ、北方領土問題とは切り離して、今後も日本とのエネルギー協力を進めていきたい考えを示しました。日本にとっては、東シベリアを含むロシアからの原油は多い月で輸入量全体の１０％近くに上っています。日本は９０％近くを輸入している中東への依存を減らすため、東シベリアの原油に注目していて、新たな調達先としてロシアの存在感が徐々に高まっています。

It was understood that among the crude oil that was exported out from east Siberia of Russia since a year ago, Japan had a huge amount; and for Japan a sense of Russia presence had risen gradually as Russia was a new crude oil procurement destination.
In December Russian government prepared a special port in the Far east for the purpose of exporting crude oil to the Asia Pacific region from east Siberia where large-scale development was in progress, the export was to Japan and China, etc. A governmental enterprise that managed a special port held a press conference on the 28th when the export had been started for exactly one year, and results of the export were explained. According to it, the crude oil that had been exported from east Siberia in total had reached 15.3 million tons in these 12 months, Japan had the lion share that accounted for 30% of the total amount. A representative of the governmental enterprise described that "Politics and economy were different things", and was keeping a distance from the dispute over the Northern Territories, and showed the idea of advancing energy cooperation with Japan in the future. For Japan, crude oil from Russia including that from east Siberia during some high importing months had reached almost 10% of total import volume. In order to reduce its dependence on the Middle East where it got almost 90% of its import, Japan was paying attention to the crude oil from east Siberia, and gradually feeling the presence of Russia because it was becoming a new oil buying destination.

It is logical to expect that the influence of Russia over Japan would increase gradually when the latter increases its dependence on Russian oil.