The soaring world oil prices will not press Japan to use its oil stockpiles, Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said Friday.

"We are not facing a critical situation that would require us to tap reserves or lower oil tariffs," Kyodo News quoted Nakagawa as saying.

In New York, crude oil futures prices logged to a new record high of 68.00 dollars a barrel on Wednesday. And in Japan, the world's second largest economy, the average retail price of regular gasoline surged to 129 yen per liter on Tuesday, a 12-year high.

Although crude oil prices are at record highs, countries such as Japan and the United States can still afford to buy oil, Nakagawa said.

Nakagawa said that he sees some adverse effects of soaring oil prices on small Japanese businesses such as tire makers, and that developing countries without resources and funds to purchase sufficient oil will suffer most from rising oil prices.

Source: Xinhua