About 70% of Aster Chemicals and Energy’s crude used to come from the Middle East. Not any more. The Singapore refiner now buys from West Africa, Latin America, the US and Canada, Han Lih Kwong, Aster’s senior general manager, said at the APPEC conference, according to Reuters.
The cause is the Iran war, which has disrupted Gulf exports and constrained supplies along the region’s usual routes. Barrels from the Middle East have become harder and more expensive to secure, and Atlantic Basin crude gives the refinery another option.
Aster runs a 237,000 barrels per day refinery on Bukom Island. It is a joint venture between Indonesia’s Chandra Asri and the commodities trader Glencore.
Others are doing the same
Aster is not alone in Asia. Reuters reported in August that Japan’s Cosmo Energy bought Mars crude from Trafigura, and that Eneos of Japan purchased US West Texas Intermediate. Taiwan’s CPC bought US and West African crude. Before the war, Asia drew more than half its crude from the Middle East.
Singapore felt the shock early. In March, Reuters reported that several refineries there had cut crude processing rates. Aster and other petrochemical companies declared force majeure.
Bukom upgrades
In February, Aster said it expected to finish projects in the second half of 2026 that would lift crude and condensate capacity to 307,000 b/d from 237,000 b/d. The company was also repairing a single buoy mooring so that very large crude carriers holding about 2 million barrels can discharge at the refinery.
