Overview
- Japanese refinery utilization rose to 77.3% of capacity in the week to May 2 and 73.3% in the week to May 9, Petroleum Association of Japan data showed.
- The government opened strategic oil stocks equal to about 75 days of national use, marking its biggest release on record.
- Buyers shifted to crude from the United States, the Caspian region, and Latin America and took a cargo of non-sanctioned Russian oil.
- Authorities said a tanker carrying Azerbaijani crude is arriving, which would be the first Central Asian shipment since the Iran war began.
- Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sought extra Saudi barrels via the Red Sea port of Yanbu, and Nikkei Asia reported a planned July import of 1 million barrels of Mexican crude.