Philippines receives rare Iranian crude cargo after wartime disruption

Published May 29, 2026 Updated May 29, 2026 01:03pm

The Philippines has received an Iranian crude cargo this month, ship-tracking data shows, likely the country’s first since the Iran war disrupted supplies from the Middle East, Reuters reports.

The Suezmax tanker Ocean Start delivered Iranian crude to Petron’s Bataan refinery on May 17, according to data from Kpler. The tanker is capable of carrying one million barrels of oil.

The Ocean Start received the cargo in early May through a ship-to-ship (STS) transfer in waters off Singapore with another Suezmax tanker Kylo, which loaded the crude at Iran’s Kharg Island on March 27, the data showed.

Kpler data indicated that this was the first Iranian crude delivery to the Philippines. Another analytics firm, Vortexa, also identified the cargo as Iranian crude delivered to the Petron refinery following an STS transfer.