April base oil imports from Qatar rise

The delivery of base oils originating from Qatar to key markets like US and Germany rose in April to a five-month high, adding to healthy global supply fundamentals for premium-grade base oils.

Those key markets took delivery of almost 180,000t of base oils originating from Qatar in April, government and customs data showed.

The volume rose by 41pc from less than 128,000t in March. But it fell from year-earlier levels for the seventh month in a row.

The sustained slowdown left total supplies of 601,790t in the first four months of the year down 12pc from 686,540t during the same period last year.

Last year’s shipments from Qatar were unusually high.

The slowdown this year likely reflected the impact of some plant maintenance work. Even so, the volumes remained high compared with levels before 2021.

The firm volumes have coincided with healthy base oil exports from other key premium-grade producers in Europe especially. Supplies from those producers had been lower in first-half 2021 because of plant maintenance work.

Global premium-grade base oil prices have reflected the improved supply fundamentals. Prices have risen in recent months in response to rising feedstock costs. But they have risen less sharply than Group I and Group II base oils.

The higher shipments from Qatar in April reflected a surge in flows to Hong Kong to a five-month high of more than 50,000t.

The US also took delivery of a large volume of supplies following an unusual pause in shipments in March.