US Crude Heads to Israel After Nearly Three-Year Absence

A shipment of US crude oil is headed to Israel for the first time in nearly three years. The Malta-flagged Aframax tanker Captain John loaded around 550,000 barrels of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude at Enbridge's Ingleside terminal near Corpus Christi, Texas.

The vessel is chartered by global trading house Vitol and is bound for Israel's southern port of Ashkelon. This comes amid the ongoing US-Israel conflict with Iran, which has significantly disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Data from Kpler shows that the last US crude shipment to Israel took place in October 2023. The shipment represents a return to trade between the two countries after a nearly three-year hiatus.