Saudi Aramco, ADNOC keep Japan's oil stockpiles steady in Dec.

State-run Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) jointly owned about 13.8 million barrels (2.19 million kilolitres) of crude oil at end-December in Japan's semi-national stockpiles, unchanged when compared to the previous month, Reuters reported Thursday, citing data from Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy.

The Japanese government lends crude storage capacity for free to the Saudi giant oil producer and ADNOC, under which they can store up to 14.47 million barrels (2.3 million kl).

In return, Japan gets a priority claim on the stockpiles in case of emergency and treats them as quasi-government inventory, counting half of the barrels as part of its national strategic crude reserves.

No clear breakdown is available for barrels between the two companies.