(Bloomberg) -- A massive release of oil from US emergency reserves that has started flowing to American refiners is also supplying fuelmakers in Europe, and potentially in Asia, as the Iran war upends global energy markets.

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Global trading houses have sold at least 4 million barrels of medium crude grades from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve to European refiners, and are also seeking buyers in Asia, people with direct knowledge of the transactions said, asking not to be named because the information isn’t public.

The US-Israeli war on Iran triggered the biggest oil supply disruption in history as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz blocked off shipments from top OPEC producers in the Persian Gulf. The Trump administration pledged to release 172 million barrels as part of a relief plan coordinated by the International Energy Agency to cushion soaring energy costs that threaten to stoke global inflation.

Supertanker Eagle Versailles, carrying nearly 2.1 million barrels of Bryan Mound medium sour crude, is on its way to Rotterdam, according to bills of lading compiled by maritime intelligence firm Kpler Ltd. The oil grade is named after one of the four underground salt cavern sites where the US emergency hoard is stashed away.

So far, the US has released 79.7 million barrels to 12 companies. The oil was offered in an exchange basis, meaning it was loaned to traders and refiners and has to be returned at a later date. Vortexa Ltd. estimates more than half, or nearly 50 million barrels, could be exported by June, based on the assumption that the oil awarded to non-fuelmakers is likely to go to overseas markets starved of Middle East supplies.

But Asian fuelmakers’ appetite for oil from US reserves may be dampened by a recent drop in global prices and also concerns over the quality of the oil, which may be sitting in caverns for decades. Crude prices in Europe have also fallen significantly recently, though still at historically high levels.

It’s not unusual for US SPR oil to be exported. In 2022, nearly 21 million barrels were shipped to Europe and Asia, or 10% of the total released by the US government due to the supply disruption triggered by the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The oil is also sailing to Latin America. Earlier this month, Peru’s state oil company bought a cargo of Bayou Choctaw crude, named after the SPR site in Louisiana. The oil is scheduled to be delivered in May.

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