Spain’s Oct Cartagena exports slip

Exports of premium-grade base oils from the Spanish port of Cartagena held firm in October, extending a protracted rise in shipments from the country.

Exports of more than 47,000t in October fell from almost 55,000t the previous month, according to Port Authority of Cartagena (PAC) data.

The volume was up 50pc from year-earlier levels and boosted total shipments from the port to almost 460,000t in the first ten months of the year.

Exports were up more than 30pc from close to 345,000t during the same period last year.

The sustained rise in exports this year balanced out a fall in Group III base oils shipments to Europe from the Mideast Gulf and Asia-Pacific.

The steady flows from Cartagena also contrasted with the more volatile shipment volumes from those other sources during the year.

The changing trade flows left European supply similar to year-earlier levels even amid an ongoing rise in demand for premium-grade base oils.

European Group III base oils prices were weaker relative to Group I and Group II prices in the first half of this year compared with last year.

Last year’s unusually high prices coincided with a heavy round of plant maintenance work in Europe in the first half of the year. There was no such plant maintenance work during the first half of this year.

The Group III price premium to Group I began to widen from the start of the third quarter of the year amid signs of tighter supply-demand fundamentals.

The period coincided with plant maintenance work in the Mideast Gulf and in northern Europe.

Some of the September-loading supplies from Cartagena moved to India. There were no such shipments to India in October.