Japan To Sell Crude Oil From State Reserves In February

Japan plans to auction in February 629,000 barrels of crude oil from its national reserves as part of a U.S.-led global effort by oil-consuming nations to lower prices.   Japan’s government will sell the crude to the winning bidder on or after March 20, the industry ministry said on Monday in a statement cited by Reuters. “This is the first round of the planned releases and we will conduct more auctions when we are ready and while we closely watch the international energy markets,” an industry ministry official told Reuters.…