On July 26, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt seizes all Japanese assets in the United States in retaliation for the Japanese occupation of French Indo-China.
On July 28, 1941, in reaction to the advance of the Japanese Army into Southern Indochina the United States government on July 25 froze Japanese assets held in the United States. Additionally all oil exports to Japan were prohibited.
This prompted Roosevelt to freeze all Japanese assets in the United States on July 26, 1941, which effectively cut off Japan's access to US oil.
The United States was the main supplier of the oil, steel, iron, and other commodities needed by the Japanese military as it became bogged down by Chinese resistance but, in January, 1940, Japan abrogated the existing treaty of commerce with the United States.
With the East Indies oil, Japan was able to import enough oil to make up for the oil embargo in July 1941 by the Americans, British, and Dutch. There was no lack of oil, and the Japanese fleet could even refuel locally at will. They even struck a giant field in central Sumatra in the Minas structure.
Responding to Japanese occupation of key airfields in Indochina (July 24) after an agreement between Japan and Vichy France, the U.S. froze Japanese assets on July 26, 1941, and on August 1, it established an embargo on oil and gasoline exports to Japan.
In 2022, Japan's largest crude oil importer was Saudi Arabia.
And although the Japanese government never believed it could defeat the United States, it did intend to negotiate an end to the war on favorable terms.
Through the 1930s, Japan's military needed imported oil for airplanes and warships. It was dependent at 90% on imports, 80% of it coming from the United States.
By the late 1930s, Japan produced only 7% of the oil it consumed. It imported the rest, with 80% coming from the U.S., and 10% from the Dutch East Indies.
It often makes more sense for the refineries in the gulf to export some of their gasoline to Mexico, rather than expensively ship their product all the way to the east coast of the U.S., which gets cheaper gasoline from Europe. oil prices down which keeps prices in the U.S. lower.
The 1979 oil crisis, also known as the 1979 Oil Shock or Second Oil Crisis, was an energy crisis caused by a drop in oil production in the wake of the Iranian Revolution.
Germany only amounted to 4.5 million barrels—despite the fact that the USSR sat squarely on top of the world's largest oil reserves. Soviet invasion, Germany had managed to build petroleum reserves to an estimated 56 million barrels.
Saudi Arabia is China's main crude oil supplier. In 2021, China imported nearly 81 million metric tons worth of crude oil from the Middle Eastern producing giant. In fact, the majority of China's oil imports originated from countries in the Middle East.
WebAnd without U.S. supplies, the Soviet war effort would have been massively diminished. The entry of the United States was the turning point of the war, because it made the eventual defeat of Germany possible. But it would The allies won WW2 and the allies won the cold war.
One of Japan's main goals during World War II was to remove the United States as a Pacific power in order to gain territory in east Asia and the southwest Pacific islands.
Japan had the best army, navy, and air force in the Far East. In addition to trained manpower and modern weapons, Japan had in the mandated islands a string of naval and air bases ideally located for an advance to the south.
Japan depends on the Middle East for about 90% of its crude oil requirements. It also largely relies on imports of LNG and coal from Asia and Oceania. If anything happens in these regions, a stable supply of energy for Japan will be jeopardized.
In the meantime, they are trying to delink themselves as much as possible from Russian energy imports. However, this is easier said than done. For example, there is Japan's recent decision to buy Russian oil at above $60 a barrel. The decision marks a break with its Western allies.
Japan's electricity system was severely affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear accident, after which all nuclear power generation was temporarily stopped, which until then represented around 25% of generation.
Seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries, Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. By 1937 Japan controlled large sections of China, and war crimes against the Chinese became commonplace.
Keeping Hawaii supplied, with its much larger civilian population and garrison, would have been even more difficult. In short, the Japanese simply did not possess the amphibious and logistical wherewithal to assault, capture, and hold the Hawaiian Islands.
Abe's Pearl Harbor speech has been well received in Japan, where most people expressed the opinion that it struck the right balance of regret that the Pacific war occurred, but offered no apologies.