US base oils exports stayed lower than usual in November amid signs of a more limited volume of surplus supplies to clear at the end of the year.A sharp slowdown in base oils exports since August coincided with a prolonged round of plant maintenance work in the US that extended into first-half November.Another round of maintenance work is set to begin in January.The maintenance work kept US base oils output unusually low. .US' October base oils output falls.Low production, combined with firm domestic demand and upcoming maintenance work, cut the volume of surplus supplies that producers sought to clear during the final months of last year.The lower-than-usual volume of exports showed signs of extending into December, when domestic demand typically faces a sharp seasonal slowdown.The prospect of a smaller supply surplus at the start of this year would coincide with plant maintenance work, and then a seasonal pick-up in demand later in the first quarter.US base oils exports of 1.49mn bl (209,900t) in November fell by 9pc from 1.64mn bl the previous month, government data showed..Average export volumes of 1.41mn bl/month in the four months to November were down from more than 1.91mn bl/month in the first seven months of last year.The sharp slowdown coincided with the shipment of a wave of arbitrage cargoes from Asia-Pacific and Mideast Gulf to the Americas market. Supply also improved markedly in Europe.But the lack of any US producer posted price cuts during the fourth quarter of the year suggested that the slowdown in exports reflected more the tighter supply rather than a fall in demand from overseas buyers.The November volumes included more than 205,000bl of supplies from the district of San Francisco. The volume was up from less than 60,000bl during each of the previous three months.Shipments from the district of Houston-Galveston also rose sharply in November to a four-month high of more than 400,000bl.The volatility of export flows from different regions of the US in recent months coincided with a wave of plant maintenance work. .Netherlands’ Oct base oils output rises
