Oil Market Braced For Glut as Asian Refiners Look Further Afield For Crude

Asian oil refiners have been hunting for crude from further afield than their usual suppliers in the Middle East, but this more diversified strategy isn’t stirring a market that’s bracing for a glut.

The region that consumes around 40% of the world’s oil normally subsists on a diet dominated by barrels from the Persian Gulf. But President Donald Trump’s scattergun approach to trade and foreign policy — including the sudden targeting of Russian flows — has forced the processors to snap up shipments from the US to Brazil and Nigeria.