The Philippines has received its first cargo of Iranian crude, Reuters reported on Friday, citing tanker-tracking data from Kpler and Vortexa. A Suezmax vessel capable of carrying up to 1 million barrels of crude that departed from Iran's Kharg Island in late March made a ship-to-ship transfer offshore Singapore onto another tanker, which delivered the oil to the Bataan refinery in the Philippines in the middle of May, according to the data. The delivery was the first Iranian cargo to the Philippines, which is one of the Asian countries worst hit…

China began tapping its huge oil reserves in May, three months after the Middle East conflict wiped out about a tenth of global supply, in a sign that Beijing is still refraining from paying top-dollar for prompt crude deliveries. Over the next few months, China is expected to draw an average of about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) from its massive oil stockpiles, according to estimates by energy consultants and energy flow-tracking firms Energy Aspects, Kpler, and Vortexa cited by Bloomberg. China is the world’s top crude importer, but…

Another LNG carrier loaded with Qatari gas has passed through the Strait of Hormuz this week, bringing the total number of Qatari LNG cargoes that have cleared the chokepoint since the start of the war to five, Reuters reported today, citing data from Kpler and LSEG. The report noted that all in all, nine LNG vessels have exited the strait since February 28, including Qatari and Emirati cargoes. Meanwhile, a ballast LNG carrier has entered the Strait of Hormuz without issues, set to load at the UAE’s Das Island, according to Vortexa data,…