Eneos buys Canadian crude as Japan shifts away from Middle East supply
Japan’s first Canadian crude cargo in over a year signals Asian buyers are rewiring supply chains after the Strait of Hormuz closure.
Japan’s biggest refiner, Eneos, has purchased a cargo of Canadian crude loaded on an Aframax tanker with a capacity of 750,000 barrels — the first such buy by a Japanese company since 2025, Reuters reported on Thursday (2026-07-30).6
The purchase matters because Japan sourced over 90% of its crude from Middle Eastern producers before the Strait of Hormuz closed on February 28.6 The cargo will move via the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline, which since 2024 has been operating at double its nameplate capacity of 890,000 barrels daily, as Canadian producers push volumes toward Asia.6
Asia has absorbed 77% of total oil exports from the port of Vancouver since the start of the year, according to Reuters data cited by Oilprice.com. That compares with 51% in 2024, when TMX launched.6
The shift is not limited to crude. Australia has secured three shipments of jet fuel from China totaling more than 600,000 barrels, the Australian government said on Tuesday (2026-05-19), with first cargoes expected from early June.2 Those deliveries supplement 600,000 barrels already lined up through Canberra’s AUD 7.5-billion ($5.34 billion) Fuel and Fertilizer Security Facility. A separate AUD 3.2-billion tranche will fund a government-owned reserve of about 1 billion liters of diesel and aviation fuel.2
Jet fuel prices have surged 20%, according to Oilprice.com data, after the Strait closure choked tanker routes supplying Europe and Asia. U.S. jet fuel production has risen to record highs in response, the EIA reported on June 8.3
Shipping data from Kpler and LSEG released on Monday (2026-05-18) showed three crude oil tankers carrying a combined 6 million barrels of Gulf crude exiting the Strait with their tracking systems switched off. Two VLCCs — Agios Fanourios I and Kiara M — passed through carrying 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude each.1
U.S. crude inventories have tightened alongside the supply disruption. Commercial stockpiles fell by 3.8 million barrels in the week ending June 26, the EIA reported, following a 6.1-million-barrel draw the prior week that left inventories at 412.1 million barrels — 7% below the five-year average.5,4
ICE Brent crude front-month traded at $90.15 a barrel as of Tuesday’s close (2026-07-29), up 0.72%. Heating oil futures rose 0.70% to $4.32 per gallon, the strongest move among refined products. [LIVE PRICES]
The question for the market is whether Trans Mountain Corp. follows through on plans flagged earlier this year to boost pipeline capacity to 1.2 million barrels daily.6 If Asian buyers keep booking Vancouver-loading cargoes at the current pace, the pipeline will hit that ceiling sooner than expected.