US crude heads to Israel for the first time in nearly three years, ship tracking shows

HOUSTON, July 31 (Reuters) - A cargo of flagship U.S. light sweet crude loaded in Texas was headed to Israel on Friday, the first shipment to the country in nearly three years, ship tracking data showed.

Here are the details:

• Malta-flagged Aframax vessel Captain John loaded U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude at Enbridge's Ingleside facility near Corpus Christi in Texas on Thursday, and was signaling Israel's southern port of Ashkelon as its destination, ship tracking data on LSEG showed.
• The vessel was shipping about 550,000 barrels of crude, according to LSEG data. An Aframax tanker can carry up to 750,000 barrels.
• The tanker was chartered by trading house Vitol, the LSEG data showed. Vitol did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
• The last time U.S. crude headed to Israel was in October 2023, Kpler data showed.
• The shipment comes amid the U.S.-Israel war on Iran which began on February 28 and has sharply reduced traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway previously carried about a fifth of global crude oil and natural gas supplies.