Japan's Eneos to buy alternative for Russian crude from Middle East

TOKYO - Japan's biggest oil refiner Eneos Holdings Inc has no plan to buy Russian crude until all problems related to the Ukraine crisis are over and will purchase alternative supplies from the Middle East, its chairman said on Wednesday.

"For now, we intend to get alternatives (for Russian crude) from existing trading partners such as Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait, but we will continue our efforts to diversify our sources to reduce reliance on the Middle East in the future," Tsutomu Sugimori, chairman of Eneos Holdings, told reporters.