Japanese industries are concerned that the U.S. retaliatory strikes on targets in Afghanistan on Sunday will expand to the Middle East, leading to a surge in crude oil prices.
More than 80 percent of Japan's oil imports come from the Middle East, with tankers voyaging through the Straits of Hormuz and waters between Diego Garcia -- a British island in the Indian Ocean -- and India.
One official of a major distributor said oil prices would initially skyrocket if the conflict spills into the oil-rich region, recalling the 1991 Persian Gulf War, which sent the price of key crude oil futures above $35 a barrel at its outset.