US oil heads to Greece for first time in four years as refiners look for alternatives to Middle East crude

HOUSTON, March 31 (Reuters) - A cargo of WTI Midland crude headed to Greece for the first time in about four years, ship tracking data on Kpler showed, as U.S. and Israel's war on Iran and reduced traffic through the Strait of Hormuz have upended trade flows and shut in output in the region.

Isle of Man-flagged medium-sized tanker Eagle Helsinki loaded about 700,000 barrels of WTI Midland, the flagship U.S. light sweet crude, at Seabrook Logistics terminal in Houston and was anchored at Agio Theodoroi, Greece, close to the Greek refiner Motor Oil's refinery in Corinth, ship tracking and data from maritime platform Signal Ocean showed.

The Corinth refinery is Greece's second largest and accounts for more than a third of the country's refining capacity.

Eagle Helsinki was initially signaling its destination as Rotterdam, before changing its course mid-Atlantic to head towards Gibraltar and then Greece, according to ship tracking and Signal Ocean.

The refinery typically relies to a significant extent on Iraqi crude from Basrah, Signal Ocean said.

Μotor Oil declined to comment.