U.S. West Coast Refiners Tap Malaysian Supply

A cargo of fuel oil from Malaysia is making its way to a refinery on the U. S. West Coast in the first such shipment in three years as global supply of feedstock for refineries has tightened in recent months due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Solomon Sea tanker, laden with more than 540,000 barrels of low-sulfur and straight-run (LSSR) fuel oil, departed from Malaysia’s PRefChem refinery operated by state oil and gas giant Petronas last week, tanker data on MarineTraffic shows.