Oil cargo from U.S. emergency reserve heads to Asia, first in over 3 years

Crude oil tanker "Chios" has its cargo pumped into the Chevron Products Company refinery, one of California's largest petroleum processing facilities, in El Segundo, Calif., on Friday, April 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

HOUSTON - A cargo of crude oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is heading to the Philippines, the first shipment of U.S. emergency reserve oil to Asia since November 2022, ship tracking data showed.

Asia receives about 80 per cent of its oil through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint that has remained largely closed during the three-month-old Iran war. The closure has upended global oil supplies and sent physical crude prices to record highs, forcing some importers to seek new suppliers.

The Greek-flagged Very Large Crude Carrier Arosa loaded 616,000 barrels of sour crude from the Bryan Mound Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Texas in early May and is set to arrive in Bataan, Philippines, in early July, Kpler data showed, citing a bill of lading. The vessel, chartered by Shell, is co-loaded with around 700,000 barrels of U.S. sour grade Thunder Horse.

The Philippines has been diversifying its energy sources amid a shortage of Middle Eastern barrels, with the government eyeing producers in the U.S., Canada, Colombia and Argentina, the Philippines’ Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said last month, as well as U.S. waivers on Russian seaborne oil.

The Southeast Asian country has not received crude from the U.S. since February 2020, according to Kpler, and typically takes the bulk of its supplies from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.

The U.S. last sent barrels from its emergency reserve to Asia in November 2022, when the Biden administration released 180 million barrels to dampen energy shocks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The U.S. is in the process of releasing 172 million barrels from the SPR to combat spiking crude prices, as the war in Iran upends 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 quell rising prices.

U.S. SPR cargoes have already headed to northwest Europe, the Mediterranean and the Balkans, according to ship tracking data.

Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston

Editing by Rod Nickel, Reuters