Tag - oil

 
Menu
Search
 
July 12, 2026
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

OIL

At 10:59 a.m. on Thursday, the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security commenced the release of about 400,000 kiloliters of oil from the Kikuma National Petroleum Stockpiling Base in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 26, 2026
Oil starts flowing from Japan’s national reserves
The release is part of the country’s 80-million-barrel contribution to a coordinated global intervention.
An EV car owner charges his vehicle at a charging station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in February.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 26, 2026
U.S.-Israeli war on Iran pushes consumers to reconsider fossil fuel alternatives
Consumers are responding to one of the largest disruptions in global oil markets by embracing low-carbon technologies that promise lower bills.
An employee works next to a reel of copper flat wire on the production line at the Wellascent factory in Ganzhou, Jiangxi province, China, on Aug. 14.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 26, 2026
China’s official calm belies a war battering its small factories
In public, top leaders have so far sidestepped the Iran war’s toll on China.
The energy crisis caused by the war in Iran is strengthening the case for electric vehicles for some consumers. Chinese carmakers are expected to be the big winners.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 26, 2026
The oil shock is accelerating Asia’s EV revolution
EVs have already hit solid double-digit market shares in multiple emerging markets, as falling battery costs and tax incentives helped undercut conventional cars.
People queue to fill their two-wheelers in Ahmedabad, India, on March 23.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 26, 2026
Asia braces for worst-case energy scenarios as Iran war drags on
In the weeks since the Middle East conflict began, nations have shifted into emergency footing, highlighting the Strait of Hormuz’s importance to global energy flows.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol pose at the beginning of their meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2026
Takaichi asks IEA chief to prepare additional ‘coordinated release’ of oil
The head of the International Energy Agency has said he is “ready to move forward” with an additional release of oil reserves “if and when necessary.”
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a national energy emergency late Tuesday, saying there is an "imminent danger of a critically low energy supply.”
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 25, 2026
Philippines declares emergency as energy supplies run short
There is an “imminent danger of a critically low energy supply,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in an executive order late Tuesday.
An oil tanker anchors off Muscat, Oman, on March 7, as regional tensions amid the U.S.-Israeli-Iran conflict have virtually closed off the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 25, 2026
War in the Persian Gulf means volatility in the global energy market
Japanese companies have long assumed a stable future energy supply. That assumption is no longer secure.
An ethanol distillery plant at a sugar mill in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India. The ethanol industry is struggling as the supply of the fuel now outstrips demand.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 25, 2026
India’s ethanol producers feel the pinch of success
For the 2025 to 2026 ethanol supply year, Indian oil companies sought bids for about 10.50 billion liters of the fuel, but producers offered around 17.76 billion liters.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said grounding planes due to a shortage of jet fuel brought on by the war in Iran is a "distinct possibility."
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 25, 2026
Philippines says grounding planes is a ‘distinct possibility’
Because the Philippines relies heavily on imported crude, it’s more exposed than other nations to energy shortages and spiraling domestic fuel prices.
U.S. President Donald Trump, right, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Feb. 13, 2025.
WORLD
Mar 25, 2026
Trump and Modi discuss Strait of Hormuz as India faces gas shortage
The war in the Middle East has cut off flows of crude oil and liquefied natural gas, driving up prices and sparking volatility in global markets.
Prices are displayed at a gas station in Nagano last week. Japan's government is making efforts to prevent the prices of petroleum products rising excessively.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 24, 2026
Oil tankers that did not transit the Strait of Hormuz to arrive in Japan soon
One departed from the Red Sea and the other from a port just beyond the strait
Fuel price pressures are hitting growers and winemakers at the same time as tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2026
From Indian movies to Italian wine, Trump’s war on Iran to cause pain worldwide
Effects of the conflict are reaching industries that might’ve seemed insulated from the fallout, and that’s unlikely to be reversed quickly.
Japan’s core consumer prices, excluding fresh food, rose 1.6% year on year in February, the smallest increase since March 2022, the internal affairs ministry said Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 24, 2026
Japan’s inflation slips below BOJ’s target for the first time since 2022
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda said he isn’t ruling out an interest rate hike at the next meeting in April, citing the need to monitor both upside and downside risks to prices.
Gantry cranes and shipping containers at the Yangshan Deepwater Port in Shanghai on May 14, 2025.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 24, 2026
Some Chinese exporters lift prices on rising costs due to war
Exporters across the world’s second-largest economy began raising prices last week as oil-linked costs surged and the conflict showed no sign of easing.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset on the day of Trump's address in Jerusalem last October
WORLD
Mar 24, 2026
Trump OK’d Iran operation after Netanyahu argued for joint killing of Khamenei, sources say
The Israeli leader argued there might never be a better chance to kill the Iranian supreme leader and avenge previous efforts to assassinate Donald Trump.
On Saturday, ​Trump had ‌warned that Iranian power plants would be destroyed if Tehran failed to "fully open" the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping within 48 hours. Trump set a deadline of around 7:44 p.m. EDT on Monday.
WORLD
Mar 23, 2026
Trump delays threat to bomb Iran power plants as he touts progress in talks
The price of the Brent crude oil ​benchmark was down around 7% near $104.
A cargo ship in the Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, on March 11
WORLD
Mar 23, 2026
Iran defies Trump’s Hormuz ultimatum with naval mine threat
The ramped-up rhetoric came after stark warnings that the world faces an energy crisis worse than both 1970s oil shocks combined if the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran drags on.
An electronic quotation board in Tokyo shows the Nikkei Stock Average dropping more than 2,500 points on Monday morning.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 23, 2026
Stocks slide in Japan as Strait of Hormuz fears amplify risk-off mood
The Topix index fell 3.4% to 3486.44, marking a slump of over 10% from its record high reached on Feb. 27. The Nikkei 225 fell 3.5% to 51,515.49.
A vintage car drives along an empty street as Cuba begins efforts to restore power after its grid collapsed for the second time in a week, amid a U.S. oil blockade that has dealt a major blow to the island's already ailing energy infrastructure, in Havana on Sunday.
WORLD
Mar 23, 2026
Power restored to Cuba after second nationwide blackout in a week
There have been seven nationwide blackouts since 2024, making life more difficult for Cubans, who fear food will spoil in refrigerators, among other problems.
China’s demand for Soviet-style apartments shows limits to revival
Apartments built during a Soviet Union-inspired construction drive in the 1970s and 1980s tend to suffer from poor insulation and outdated plumbing, but they are seeing a revival in interest due to their attractive locations.
Japanese scientists identify neural mechanism that may explain why we dislike people
The aggressive mouse (left) used in the experiment and a mouse defending itself
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
Lenders seek $700 million after Japanese payments firm’s collapse
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ¥115.16 billion, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
Japan’s largest exhibition of women photographers rights a wrong in cultural history
Miwa Yanagi’s “Elevator Girl House” series skewers the superficiality of gender roles through staged images.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
‘Princess Mononoke’ comes alive in Super Kabuki staging
The “Princess Mononoke” adaptation was created under Shochiku’s Super Kabuki initiative, a modern form of kabuki with more technology in staging and open to pop culture collaborations.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Sompo looks beyond insurance to focus on well-being
Sompo looks beyond insurance to focus on well-being

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER