SK Lubricants Americas’ share of US base oil imports held firm in April even as it edged down from the previous month.

Its share of imports fell to 23.8pc of the total in April, according to the EIA. The share was down from 24.6pc the previous month.

SK Lubricants Americas’ share of US imports held above the 23pc level for a third straight month. Its share had fallen below 16pc of the total in December and January.

Most of the US’ base oil imports consist of Group III supplies. The trend reflects the US market’s scant Group III production capacity and its reliance on overseas sources like South Korea and Mideast Gulf for most of its supplies.

SK Lubricants is the world’s largest producer of Group III base oils.

US imports of 5.27mn bl in the first four months of this year were similar to year-earlier levels of 5.22mn bl, EIA data showed.

US blender Pennzoil Quaker State was the second-largest base oils importer in April with a 23.5pc share of the total. Petro-Canada America remained the third-largest importer, and Motiva Enterprises the fourth largest.

ExxonMobil’s share of base oil imports recovered to 8.9pc of the total in April, from a 1.7pc share the previous month.