Japan's third-biggest oil refiner Cosmo Energy Holdings is negotiating with Middle Eastern oil producers on 2027 crude term contracts, aiming to maintain this year's volumes, an executive said on Tuesday.
Cosmo has sourced roughly equal volumes of crude from the Middle East and elsewhere, mainly the US and Mexico, since the April-June first quarter of fiscal 2026, Senior Executive Officer Tomoki Iwai told reporters.
Japan imported 94 per cent of its crude oil from the Middle East in 2025.
Cosmo has secured crude supplies through January and as its chartered tankers cannot transit the Strait of Hormuz or Bab el-Mandeb, the company is relying mainly on ship-to-ship transfers at sea, Iwai said.
Cosmo currently sources Saudi crude shipped through the Strait of Hormuz and does not import crude via the Suez-Africa route, Iwai said.
The company will consider adjustments to its refinery configuration depending on whether shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb returns to normal.
Cosmo still plans to source crude mainly from the Middle East and is likely to shift back to regional supplies once the straits reopen to shipping, Iwai said.
Net profit for the April-September period rose more than sixfold to JPY147 billion ($931 million) on higher inventory appraisal gains and stronger refining margins, while the refinery utilisation rate, including the impact of maintenance, was 92.8 per cent.
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi Editing by Tomasz Janowski)