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A shipment of crude oil from the United States' Strategic Petroleum Reserve is heading to the Philippines, marking the first delivery of the hydrocarbon from the US emergency reserve to Asia since November 2022, according to vessel tracking data.
Asia receives nearly 80% of its fuel through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint that has remained largely closed for the three months of the Iran war.
The closure has disrupted global oil supplies and driven physical crude prices to historic highs, forcing some importers to seek new suppliers.
The Arosa, a Greek-flagged supertanker (VLCC), loaded 616,000 barrels of sour crude from the Bryan Mound Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Texas in early May and is scheduled to arrive in Bataan, Philippines, in early July, according to Kpler data citing a bill of lading.
The vessel, chartered by Shell, carries a shared cargo with approximately 700,000 barrels of the US sour variety Thunder Horse.
The Philippines has been diversifying its energy sources amidst a shortage of barrels from the Middle East; last month, Philippine Energy Secretary Sharon Garin indicated that the government is eyeing producers in the US, Canada, Colombia, and Argentina, as well as US exemptions for seaborne Russian oil.
The Southeast Asian country has not received crude from the US since February 2020, according to Kpler, and typically sources most of its supplies from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq.
The last time the United States sent barrels from its emergency reserve to Asia was in November 2022, when the Biden administration released 180 million barrels to cushion energy crises following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The North American nation is in the process of releasing 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to combat rising crude prices, as the war in Iran disrupts global supplies, with the Strait of Hormuz largely closed.
The move is part of a coordinated effort by the International Energy Agency to release a record 400 million barrels of oil to curb price increases.
US SPR shipments have already been directed to northwestern Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Balkans, according to vessel tracking data.
Source: portalportuario
