Japan's Eneos buys a rare Canadian crude cargo, the first such purchase by a Japanese company since 2025

Eneos, Japan's biggest refiner, has bought a rare cargo of Canadian crude oil as the country seeks to diversify its supply sources and reduce its dependence on West Asian oil. According to a Reuters report carried on Thursday 30 July 2026, citing ship tracking data from Kpler and LSEG, this is the first Canadian oil shipment bought by a Japanese company since 2025. The same data show the cargo was loaded on an Aframax tanker with a capacity of 750,000 barrels, with Exxon as the seller.

Richard Ro, a senior analyst at Kpler, told Reuters that Japan's renewed purchases of Trans Mountain pipeline crude highlight Canada's growing role in Asia's import strategy as refiners diversify away from Persian Gulf supplies. Canada exports oil to Asian markets via the Trans Mountain pipeline to the coast of British Columbia, and since 2024 the pipeline has been operating at double its capacity of 890,000 barrels per day.

Before the war Japan sourced more than 90% of its crude from West Asian producers, and since the war began it has been actively seeking alternative suppliers including the United States and Russia. India, Malaysia and Singapore are also buying Alberta crude. According to Reuters, as much as 77% of total oil exports from the port of Vancouver have gone to Asia since the start of this year, compared with 51% in 2024. Trans Mountain Corp said earlier this year it has plans to raise the pipeline's capacity, potentially to 1.2 million barrels per day.