Vietnam makes first US oil purchase in 2025, sources say

Vietnam's Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical (BSR) has bought one million barrels of U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery, the country's first U.S. oil purchase in 2025, sources said on Thursday.

BSR bought the light-sweet crude from Mercuria, the sources said. It typically processes domestic crude.

A board member of BSR declined to comment on the deal when reached by Reuters. The company did not immediately respond to an email request.


In deals negotiated with Washington to avoid high U.S. tariffs and reduce trade surpluses with the United States, Vietnam and other countries such as Indonesia and Thailand have committed to buy more U.S. crude.

At the same time, WTI has become more competitive in Asia for cargoes arriving in November after Middle East oil prices strengthened.

Data from analytics firm Kpler show Vietnam's last imports of U.S. crude was in December 2024. The Southeastern nation mainly buys crude from Kuwait, Brunei and Libya.