At least three North Asian refiners plan to reduce Middle Eastern crude volumes in their 2027 contracts to make room for purchases from other regions after the Iran war disrupted supplies this year, people with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.
Most refiners in Asia, except for India's, are due to renew their annual contracts with Persian Gulf producers in October as the market will next month start trading cargoes loading in January.
Asian buyers typically send tankers into the gulf to load cargoes purchased mostly on a free-on-board basis in term contracts. But they have been unable to do so for most of 2026 as attacks on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz made such journeys unsafe.
These buyers will be taking a more conservative approach in committing to long-term crude purchases as the outcome of the war and the situation in the strait remain unclear, one of the people said.
To boost exports, Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and QatarEnergy have been shuttling crude out of the strait and selling it on a spot basis via ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman. And Iraq's SOMO has been offering deep discounts to attract buyers to lift crude inside the gulf.
However, the producers and their customers have been quibbling over whether the spot purchases could be counted as part of their term commitments.
Saudi Aramco has asked at least one buyer to make up for its 2026 shortfall in 2027, one of the people said. Saudi Aramco declined to comment.
(Reporting by Florence Tan, Siyi Liu and Chen Aizhu; Editing by Joe Bavier)
