Saudi Aramco and the Japanese government are set to agree on roughly a two million barrel expansion of crude storage capacity in Okinawa used by the state-run firm to store oil.
As part of an agreement with Tokyo, Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) each store up to six million barrels of crude oil in the region, southwest of mainland Japan.
In return for providing free storage space, Japan gets a priority claim on the stockpiles in case of an emergency.
Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser said: “It would be in the best interest for Saudi Aramco and Japan to increase the capacity.
“We are looking at a couple of million (barrels) more than what we have now.”
Nasser said the deal was “in the process of being signed.”