BEIJING: Japan's demand for oil and gas will increase as it rebuilds from its devastating earthquake, but this will not have a significant impact on global markets, Saudi Aramco CEO Khalid Al-Falih told Reuters Sunday. The head of Saudi Arabia's state oil giant said that Japan would be able to meet its energy needs through a combination of domestic industry and regional producers. Japan has been struggling with power shortages in the aftermath of its earthquake and tsunami. In the longer term, there are questions about whether its nuclear crisis will lead it to back away from atomic power and rely more on alternatives such as natural gas. "There will be short-term disruptions to the markets in Japan. There are obviously logistical disruptions and some of the refineries will not be producing, but it will be made up from inventory supply," Falih said on the sidelines of a forum in Beijing. He said that Japan's reconstruction would probably drive its economy to grow at a faster clip. "In the medium term, there is actually going to be a slightly larger demand for crude oil and refined products and gas within Japan as a result of increased activity," Falih said. "Whatever disruptions will be met by Japanese industry and regional producers, without a significant impact on global supply and demand balances of crude or products," he said. Japan's neighbors pledged to ramp up liquefied natural gas exports to the quake-stricken nation on Friday, helping the world's third-biggest economy to replace the power supply crippled by the disaster. Japan's earthquake has caused the loss of around 9,700 megawatts (MW) of nuclear and 10,831 MW of thermal power generation, leaving millions without electricity in the midst of wintry weather. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports increased by 5.4 percent in January as exports from other OPEC countries such as Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador, and Kuwait fell, official primary data from exporting countries showed Sunday. Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports reached 6.39 million barrels per day in January from 6.05 million barrels in December, according to Saudi official data posted on the Joint Data Initiative website, known as JODI. Exports from Algeria fell by 122,000 bpd to 684,000 bpd, while they fell in Nigeria by 146,000 bpd to 2.41 million bpd. Kuwait's exports fell slightly by 11,000 bpd and exports fell by 17,000 bpd in Ecuador. Exports from the rest of the 13 member countries of OPEC increased during that month with exception of the UAE, which did not submit data. Significant increase in crude oil exports during January came from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela after they added 347,000 bpd and 168,000 bpd, respectively. JODI is supervised by the Riyadh-based International Energy Forum and its data goes back to 2002. The initiative only runs primary official data from submitting parties. Saudi Arabia increased crude oil output in January by 460,000 bpd above its OPEC quota. The country's output reached 8.51 million barrels per day in January after it added 149,000 barrels per day from December, the data showed.
