South Korea’s base oils exports to the US rose to a fifteen-month high in December, clearing a swathe of supplies from the Asia-Pacific region.The shipments instead raised the prospect of boosting supplies in the US market at the beginning of this year.South Korea’s base oils exports of more than 83,000t to the US in December rebounded from less than 25,000t in November, government data showed.Exports of 179,000t to the US in the fourth quarter of last year were the highest quarterly volume in more than a year.Most of the supplies likely consisted of Group III base oils.US Group III posted prices fell over the past month in response to weak supply-demand fundamentals.Even so, US Group III spot prices moved to a premium to Europe prices during the third quarter of last year and remain more than $100/t higher than prices in that region, ICIS data shows.The firm premium incentivizes refiners in Asia and Mideast Gulf to move more supplies to the US rather than Europe. US imports of Group III base oils from the Mideast Gulf already rose strongly in November on the back of a surge in shipments from the UAE..S Korea's Dec base oils exports rise.US’ November base oils imports mixed
