Japan Buys Rare Canadian Oil Cargo

Japan’s biggest refiner, Eneos, has bought a rare cargo of Canadian crude as the country seeks to diversify away from Middle Eastern crude.

This is the first Canadian oil shipment bought by a Japanese company since 2025, Reuters noted in a report, citing ship-tracking data from Kpler and LSEG. According to that data, the cargo was loaded on an Aframax tanker, which has a capacity of 750,000 barrels. The seller is Exxon.

“Japan’s renewed purchases of TMX crude highlight Canada’s growing role in Asia’s evolving import strategy as refiners diversify away from Middle East Gulf supplies,” Kpler senior analyst Richard Ro said, as quoted by Reuters.

Canada exports oil to Asian markets via the Trans Mountain pipeline to the coast of British Columbia. Since 2024, the pipeline has been operating at double its capacity of 890,000 barrels daily, as Canadian oil producers seek to capture a bigger share of the Asian markets.

The current oil export problems in the Middle East have made Canadian crude more attractive, especially for countries such as Japan, which before the war sourced over 90% of its crude oil from Middle Eastern producers.

Since the war erupted, Japan has been actively seeking alternative suppliers, which have included the United States and Russia. Besides Japan, India, Malaysia, and Singapore are also buying crude from Alberta carried to the coast on the trans Mountain pipeline. According to Reuters, as much as 77% of total oil exports from the port of Vancouver have gone to Asia since the start of the year. This compares to 51% back in 2024, when the TMX launched at double capacity.

Thanks to this strong demand for Canadian crude abroad, Trans Mountain Corp. said earlier this year there are plans to further boost the capacity of the pipeline, potentially to 1.2 million barrels daily.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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