Japan has taken delivery of its first stockpile of oil from Russia since global supplies were choked off by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz at the start of the Iran war, reports said.

A tanker carrying crude that was produced as part of a Sakhalin-2 natural gas development project reached the coast of Imabari in western Japan on Monday (May 4, 2026), TV Tokyo, the Asahi Shimbun daily and other media said on Monday (May 4, 2026), citing unnamed officials of wholesaler Taiyo Oil.