Business

Northeast Asia Ships First Jet Fuel to Europe Since Iran War
By Reuters | 22 May, 2026

Asian supplies have risen and European commercial stocks remain low, allowing around 745,000 barrels of aviation fuel to be loaded from Yeosu in South Korea and transferred to the Strait of Malacca on May 18-21.

Northeast Asia has shipped its first jet fuel cargo to Europe since the Iran war started at the end of February, shiptracking data and three trade sources said, as Asian supplies have risen and European commercial stocks remain low.

Around 745,000 barrels of the aviation fuel were loaded from Yeosu in South Korea onto the Seriana on May 1-6 and then transferred to the Yuan Lan Wan near the Strait of Malacca on May 18-21, shiptracking data from Kpler, LSEG and a fourth source showed.

The volumes transferred are bound for France, according to LSEG data and two of the trade sources.

Trading house Vitol, which chartered both the Seriana and the Yuan Lan Wan, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

TRADE STALLED THROUGH STRAIT OF HORMUZ

Shiptracking data showed Asia has not shipped jet fuel on this route since the latest phase of the Middle Eastern crisis began on February 28 with U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran.

The crisis led to the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and led Asian refiners to reduce refining runs and cater firstly to Asian demand.

Asia is a swing supplier of jet fuel to Europe and traders typically send cargoes on this route when they judge the arbitrage profitable. Average monthly exports last year were 1.5 million barrels, Kpler shiptracking data showed.

Since the Iran war, a volatile arbitrage price spread between Asia and northwest Europe is another factor that has limited shipments West.

"The arbitrage picture for European jet supply remains tight. All Asian loading routes are closed into Europe in the prompt and largely so into the medium term," said Sparta Commodities analyst James Noel-Beswick in a client note dated May 21.

Costs for shipping from Singapore to northwest Europe were estimated at $4 million or lower, which equates to around $40 per metric ton, one of the three trade sources said.

Two separate industry sources, who could not be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly, pegged the price spreads between these two regions at roughly $20-30 per ton in recent trading sessions - less than shipping costs, which means the arbitrage is theoretically closed.

(Reporting by Trixie Yap; editing by Barbara Lewis)