Energy-starved Asian nations are taking advantage of US sanction waivers to buy Russian oil to fill gaps caused by the Iran war. The Philippines took its first cargo of ESPO crude in nearly six years, while South Korea’s first Russian naphtha shipment this year has arrived at Daesan port and is awaiting discharge, according to ship-tracking data. Other countries including Sri Lanka are in talks with Moscow over shipments. The war in the Middle East between the US, Israel and Iran has pitched Asia into a severe energy crunch, with the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz choking off supplies. The disruption has left the region’s refiners desperate to secure alternative cargoes of oil and products.