Asian countries most vulnerable to Strait of Hormuz blockade
Around 84% of oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz is destined for Asia, leaving the economies of China, India, South Korea and others vulnerable should Iran blockade the crucial trading route over U.S. strikes on its nuclear sites.
Around 14.2 million barrels of crude oil and 5.9 million barrels of other petroleum products pass through the strait per day — representing around 20% of global production in the first quarter, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
And crude oil from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and Iran almost exclusively passes through the corridor.
Here are the main Asian countries where oil exported via the strait is destined:
China
More than half of the oil imported by East Asia passes through the Strait of Hormuz, experts estimate.
China is one of the largest buyers, importing 5.4 million barrels of crude oil a day through Hormuz in the first quarter this year, according to the EIA.
Saudi Arabia is China's second-largest supplier of crude oil, accounting for 15% of its total oil imports — 1.6 million barrels a day.
China also buys more than 90% of Iran's oil exports, according to the analysis firm Kpler.
It imported 1.3 million barrels of Iranian crude oil a day in April, down from a five-month high in March.
India
India is highly dependent on the Strait of Hormuz, importing 2.1 million barrels of crude a day through the corridor in the first quarter, EIA data shows.
Around 53% of India's imported oil in early 2025 came from Middle Eastern suppliers, particularly Iraq and Saudi Arabia, local media reported.
Wary of an escalating conflict in the Middle East, New Delhi has increased its imports of Russian oil over the past three years.
"We have been closely monitoring the evolving geopolitical situation in the Middle East since the past two weeks," India's Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said on Sunday.
"We have diversified our supplies in the past few years and a large volume of our supplies do not come through the Strait of Hormuz now," he wrote on X, adding "We will take all necessary steps to ensure stability of supplies of fuel to our citizens."
South Korea
Around 68% of South Korea's crude oil imports pass through the Strait of Hormuz — 1.7 million barrels a day this year, according to the EIA.
South Korea is particularly dependent on its main supplier Saudi Arabia, which last year accounted for a third of its oil imports.
Seoul's trade and energy ministry said there have been "no disruptions so far in South Korea's crude oil and LNG imports" but "given the possibility of a supply crisis," officials were "planning for potential disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz."
"The government and industry stakeholders have prepared for emergencies by maintaining a strategic petroleum reserve equivalent to about 200 days of supply," the ministry said in a statement.
Japan
Japan imports 1.6 million barrels of crude oil a day through the Strait of Hormuz, the EIA says.
Japanese customs data showed 95% of crude oil imports last year came from the Middle East.
The country's energy freight companies are readying for a potential blockade of the strait.
"We're currently taking measures to shorten as much as possible the time spent by our vessels in the Gulf," shipping giant Mitsui OSK said.
Others
Around 2 million barrels of crude oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz each day in the first quarter were destined for other parts of Asia — particularly Thailand and the Philippines — as well as Europe (0.5 million barrels) and the United States (0.4 million barrels).
Limited alternatives
Asian countries could diversify their oil suppliers, but it is difficult to replace the large volumes coming from the Middle East.
In the short term, "elevated global oil inventories, OPEC+'s available spare capacity, and U.S. shale production all could provide some buffer," experts at MUFG Bank said.
"However, a full closure of the Hormuz Strait would still impact on the accessibility of a major part of this spare production capacity concentrated in the Persian Gulf," they said.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have infrastructure to bypass the strait, potentially mitigating disruptions, but their transit capacity remains very limited — around 2.6 million barrels a day.
And the Goreh-Jask pipeline built by Iran to export via the Gulf of Oman, which has been inactive since last year, has a maximum capacity of only 300,000 barrels per day, according to the EIA.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
29 minutes ago
- Japan Times
Nomura shareholders reject proposal to change company name
Nomura Holdings shareholders have voted against a proposal to change the company's name following a pair of scandals at Japan's biggest brokerage. Investors also voted in favor of retaining CEO Kentaro Okuda and Chairman Koji Nagai as board members, the company said on its website. The decisions were made at an annual shareholders' meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday. The proposal for the firm to change its name to Nomura Securities Group was made by a shareholder, who had said it would help the company return to the principles of its founder following a bond market manipulation case and charges of attempted murder by a former employee. Nomura's board had opposed the motion, which was the first to be tabled by a shareholder in 13 years. Okuda and Nagai retained their board positions despite the opposition of proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services. The two executives presided over a year of record profit at the Tokyo-based firm, and Okuda saw his annual pay more than double to ¥1.208 billion ($8.3 million).
Japan Times
37 minutes ago
- Japan Times
Japan needs a big, beautiful trade deal with the United States
Nippon Steel's acquisition of United States Steel could be a model for a trade deal between Japan and the United States. A big, beautiful trade deal, one academic quips. The key to getting the U.S. Steel acquisition across the line was creative structuring that allowed the Japanese company to get full ownership while giving the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump the comfort it needed to green light the purchase and the bragging rights for devising the win-win solution. A " golden share " was issued that gave the U.S. government a certain level of control over U.S. Steel. While a golden share might not exactly work for trade, something that accomplishes the same by giving everyone what they want and need could do the trick. At a meeting Monday with Nippon Steel Chairman and CEO Eiji Hashimoto, Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, gushed about the U.S. Steel transaction and said he wished to borrow some wisdom from Nippon Steel executives. 'I've also been going back and forth with the U.S., so I can truly imagine how tough it must have been,' Akazawa told Hashimoto at the meeting. 'As someone currently involved in negotiations myself, I'd really like to know how you managed to make yours a success.' Akazawa later attributed Nippon Steel's success to its accurate grasp of the situation in the United States and understanding of what U.S. negotiators were requesting, as well as its determination to continue negotiations tenaciously despite setbacks. It comes down to finding something that allows both sides to claim a win, said Paul Sracic, an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute. Nippon Steel could say that the golden share restrictions placed upon it are not really restrictions because they align with its business plan anyhow, while for Trump, the restrictions allow him to say that U.S. Steel is still American. 'I think that that was the crucial piece that allowed President Trump to reverse himself and approve the deal,' Sracic said. 'What we need is a big, beautiful trade deal,' he continued. 'It's all one big package, and then you need a name for it — whether it's the golden share or the big, beautiful deal.' So far, numerous offers from Japan have been reported by the media, including importing more crops and liquefied natural gas from the U.S., relaxing safety rules for U.S.-made vehicles, collaboration in shipbuilding and collectively addressing supply chain challenges. None of the offers seemed to have registered with the United States, and they have failed to get Japan what it wants: full removal of all tariffs in place, including 25% on auto and auto parts, 50% on steel and aluminum, and a 10% baseline reciprocal tariff that's set to rise to 24% if no deal is struck by July 9. According to news reports, Akazawa is set to fly to Washington as early as Thursday for the seventh round of negotiations with his American counterparts. A meeting between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Trump in Canada last week failed to deliver any tangible result. Akazawa declined to confirm the trip when asked on Tuesday. He has repeatedly said that while Japan sees July 9 as a critical juncture, it does not view the date as a hard deadline between the two countries. Japan hopes negotiating in ' good faith ' could buy some time and delay the higher-rate tariffs. "I don't think we're going back to 2.5%," Sracic said. "But maybe 5%, which I think would be a win for Japan, and Trump could say we're still doubling tariffs on that. 'I think that maybe that range might be doable — a quota plus a slight increase in the tariff. And I think anything below 10% would be a win for Japan." Sracic said that the reciprocal tariff framework is a new idea and is being used primarily as a negotiation tool. The auto tariff, on the other hand, has been locked in Trump's mind since his first term in office and has a firmer legal foundation compared to the reciprocal tariffs, which combined makes it extremely difficult for Japan to negotiate away. 'This is not a normal trade negotiation," he said. "This is not a small sort of give-and-take. What's needed here is some real innovative thinking, real outside-of-the-box thinking in terms of marketing. "They have to think about how they can package this into some big marketable slogan or deal,' he added. Given that the auto tariffs were justified on national security grounds, one possible way to achieve this, Sracic suggested, is to simulate a national security solution similar to Nippon Steel's golden share fix. Restrictions could be placed on importing products that contain raw materials or parts sourced from China, he said. Japan needs to spend more time and effort in highlighting the impact of the investment it is going to make, he added. Rather than simply talking to people in Washington, it needs to communicate clearly what a difference it can make in terms of creating jobs to the American public. 'Japan has done a very bad job in the last 30 years of marketing itself in the United States,' Sracic said. 'Japan faces sort of an uphill fight because they've never educated American voters on all this investment that they've already made. "You kind of missed the boat on marketing that from the beginning, so now you've got to kind of make up for that.'
Japan Times
an hour ago
- Japan Times
Big questions loom over Trump's announcement of Israel-Iran ceasefire deal
When President Donald Trump sent U.S. bombers to strike Iran's nuclear sites last weekend, he was betting he could help ally Israel cripple Tehran's nuclear program while keeping his long-standing vow to avoid entanglement in a protracted war. Just days later, Trump's surprise announcement on Monday of an Israel-Iran ceasefire agreement suggests he may have bombed Tehran's rulers back to the negotiating table. But a long list of big unanswered questions remains, not least whether any ceasefire can actually hold between two bitter foes whose yearslong "shadow' conflict had erupted into an air war marked by the past 12 days of strikes on each other's territory.
