Japan imported 1.55 billion barrels of crude oil in 2001, down 1.4 percent from the year before and the first dip in two years, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Monday.

Imports from the Middle East rose 1.7 percent to 1.37 billion barrels, accounting for 88.4 percent of the total and up from 85.7 percent in 2000, the ministry said in a preliminary report.

But imports from the United Arab Emirates, Japan's biggest oil supplier, fell 5.7 percent to 374.09 million barrels.