South Korea, Japan refiners buy US crude, traders say

Idemitsu Kosan

06/08/2026 07:25

SINGAPORE, Aug 6 (Reuters) - South Korea's SK Energy has purchased 2 million barrels of U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for November delivery, two traders who participate in the market said on Thursday. 
The crude was bought from Unipec, the trading arm of Sinopec, at a premium of close to $10 a barrel to October ICE Brent swaps on a delivered basis, one of the traders said.
Separately, Japanese refiner Idemitsu Kosan also bought WTI crude from trading house Vitol, the people said. 
Companies typically do not comment on their commercial trades.

 (Reporting by Siyi Liu in Singapore; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
 ((siyi.liu@thomsonreuters.com;))