Americas’ April base oils supply rises

Base oils supply in the Americas recovered to a three-month high in April amid a pick-up in output in the US and Latin America.

Base oils output of around 712,000t in April rose from a two-year low of less than 605,000t the previous month, government data showed.

Base oils supply still lagged year-earlier levels for the twelfth-time in thirteen months.

The trend cut total supply to 2.70mn t in the first four months of the year.

The volume fell from more than 3.0mn t during the same period last year to the lowest in more than five years.

US base oils prices extended their fall throughout first-half 2023 as weak domestic demand outweighed the drop in supply.