US oil heads to Greece for first time in four years as refiners seek alternatives to Middle East crude

Houton: A cargo of WTI Midland crude headed to Greece for the first time in about four years, ship tracking data on Kpler showed, as U.S. and Israel's war on Iran and reduced traffic through the ‌Strait of ⁠Hormuz have upended ⁠trade flows and shut in output in the region.

Isle of Man-flagged ​medium-sized tanker Eagle Helsinki loaded about 700,000 barrels of WTI Midland, the flagship ​U.S. light sweet crude, at Seabrook Logistics terminal in Houston and was anchored at Agio Theodoroi, Greece, close to the Greek refiner ​Motor Oil's refinery in Corinth, ship ⁠tracking and ‌data from maritime platform Signal Ocean showed.

The Corinth ​refinery is ​Greece's second largest and accounts for more than ⁠a third of the country's refining capacity.


Eagle Helsinki ​was initially signaling its destination as Rotterdam, before ​changing its course mid-Atlantic to head towards Gibraltar and then Greece, according to ship tracking and Signal Ocean.

Also Read: How an Indian LPG tanker escaped Hormuz via an unusual route

The refinery typically relies to a significant extent on Iraqi crude from Basrah, Signal Ocean said.

Μotor Oil declined to comment.

A cargo of Ecuadorian ‌heavy, high sulfur crude also headed to Irving Oil's refinery on Canada's east coast via the Panama Canal ​in March, ​ship tracking data ⁠showed, the first in over a year.

Panama-flagged mid-size vessel Zaruma carried about 700,000 barrels of Ecuador's Oriente crude to the refinery. Canada last received ​a cargo of oil from Ecuador in February last year.

Irving oil did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.