Japan’s private-sector oil reserves were released during the 1991 Gulf War and following the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami, but turning on the taps to release the state’s oil ...

Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu flatly refused U.S. President George H.W. Bush’s request to release his nation’s state oil reserves amid the Persian Gulf crisis at their summit in 1990.

Japanese companies, he added, have been involved in the large-scale construction of LNG plants in the country since 1990, and Qatar’s consistent supply of LNG and oil has significantly aided ...