Oil-Starved Asia Turns to Russia After U.S. Waiver

Some Asian countries are taking Russian oil for the first time in years after the U.S. waiver allowed purchases of Russian oil on tankers to ease the major oil supply shock to the market. The Philippines, one of the Asian nations worst hit by the Middle East supply squeeze and where a national energy emergency is already in place, imported its first cargo of Russia’s Far Eastern crude grade ESPO for the first time in six years, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. South Korea is also importing a shipment of naphtha from…