SK Lubricants Americas was the US’ largest base oils importer in August for a second month amid a sustained rise in premium-grade shipments from Asia-Pacific.SK Lubricants Americas’ share of US base oils imports held above 25pc of the total in August, EIA data showed. The share edged down from more than 26pc the previous month..US base oils imports of 1.71mn bl in August were the second highest in the past year. The highest volume during that time had been in July. Most of the supplies consisted of Group III base oils.The country’s imports got a boost in July and August from a rise in shipments from South Korea and Indonesia to their highest levels since February. SK Lubricants has Group III base oils production capacity in both of those markets.Strong US Group III base oils demand and high prices relative to other markets boosted the attraction of moving more supplies from South Korea and Indonesia to the US.Pennzoil Quaker State was the US’ second-largest base oils importer in August with a share of more than 20pc of the total. Almost all its supplies originated from Qatar.Qatar is home to a Group III+ gas-to-liquids base oils plant.Penthol was the US’ third-largest importer for a second month. Its share of US imports edged down to around 15pc of the total in August, from closer to 17pc the previous month. All its supplies originated from the UAE.Penthol is the exclusive distributor of UAE refiner ADNOC’s Group III base oils in the US.Safety-Kleen Canada was the US’ seventh-largest US base oils importer with a share of more than 3.5pc of the August total.The volume and share was its highest this year, with all the supplies originating from Canada..SK Lubricants’ US base oils imports rise
