Hormuz Disruption Deepens as Japan Taps Oil Reserves, Trump Warns Iran
Rising tensions in the Strait of Hormuz are disrupting global energy flows, prompting Japan to release emergency oil reserves as supply risks escalate.
(Reuters) — U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran not to charge tolls on ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz, as a mounting global energy crisis prompted Japan on April 10 to announce a further emergency oil release.
The Iran war has damaged Gulf energy production, stranded tanker traffic, and boosted oil prices by about 50% in the world's worst energy shock, with Asian buyers among the hardest hit.
"There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. "They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now."
"That is not the agreement we have!," Trump said.
Opening the strait at the southern tip of the Gulf to free hundreds of stranded tankers and other vessels was a condition of the two-week ceasefire announced on April 7 after weeks of attacks that have damaged energy infrastructure across the Gulf.
A spokesperson for Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union, Hamid Hosseini, had told the Financial Times newspaper that Iran would demand tolls in cryptocurrency during the ceasefire.
Iran Lays Out New Route
On April 9, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also set forth a special route for vessels to follow, warning them to sail through Iranian waters around Larak Island to avoid the risk of naval mines in the usual lanes through the strait, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
The conflict has had a global impact well beyond Gulf economies and tourism, with inflationary energy price rises and damage to supply of liquefied natural gas and aluminum, cooking gas for India, helium for Asia's chipmakers, diesel for farmers, and jet fuel for airlines.
Japan Plans Emergency Release
Japan plans to release an additional 20 days' worth of oil reserves from May, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told a cabinet meeting on April 10.
Japan is dependent on the Gulf for some 95% of its oil. Takaichi said by May the country should be able to secure more than half of its imports via routes that bypass the Strait of Hormuz, without providing details.
With the Gulf effectively shut, Saudi Arabia is managing to export via the Red Sea port of Yanbu. Japan in May is also set to receive four times the U.S. crude it did a year earlier, a trade and economy ministry document showed on April 10.
Gulf Producer Plans
Saudi overnight updated its production status, with state news agency SPA reporting that Iranian attacks had cut oil production capacity by around 600,000 barrels per day and flows on its East-West Pipeline to Yanbu by about 700,000 bpd.
Top exporter Saudi Aramco has asked its clients to submit nominations for May cargoes loading from Yanbu and Ras Tanura, two sources said, with Ras Tanura loadings dependent on the strait reopening.
Kuwait Petroleum Corp. has provided April loading dates on free-on-board basis, two sources said, but these also depend on strait sailings resuming.
Last month, KPC declared force majeure on deliveries in light of the Gulf being closed.
Iranian Crude at Premium to Brent
Iran's crude exports remain largely unfettered, with Chinese independent "teapot" refiners, its biggest buyers, paying premiums to Brent for the first time in years.
Iranian oil typically trades at a discount because of sanctions, yet at least two refiners in Dongying, Shandong province, purchased Iranian Light at premiums of $1.50 to $2 a barrel to ICE Brent this week, trade sources said. That compared with a $10 per barrel discount before the conflict.
One source said he believed it was the first time since 2022 that teapots had bought Iranian oil at a premium to Brent.
Brent crude futures were up 1% at just below $97 per barrel as of 1010 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate was up 0.7% at about $98.50.