Japan to support alternative Mideast oil pipelines

Japan plans to provide support for alternative pipelines in the Middle East as it seeks to improve energy security in the wake of the Iran war, local media reported Wednesday.

Before the conflict began in February, the world's fourth-biggest economy was heavily reliant on oil imports passing through the now-strangled Strait of Hormuz.

The Nikkei daily reported that Japan will assist initiatives by Saudi Arabia and other countries to expand and build new routes for crude which bypass the waterway.

Japan has already tapped its oil reserves to help cope with supply problems and increased crude imports from other countries including the United States.

Other measures to be decided by a government meeting later Wednesday include an initiative for a special crude oil reserve to produce naphtha, broadcaster NHK reported.

Naphtha is an oil by-product used in a wide range of industries.

The government is also expected to call "for maximizing the use of nuclear power", NHK said, and provide support for next-generation perovskite solar cells.

Partly to meet a projected increase in power demand from AI, Japan has already been moving to revive its nuclear power sector, 15 years after the Fukushima disaster.