Europe’s imports of premium-grade base oils from the Mideast Gulf stayed unusually low in November, squeezing supply and countering the impact of a seasonal slowdown in demand.Imports likely also remained lower than usual in December, when regular shipments resumed from a key Group III base oils unit in the Mideast Gulf.Some of those shipments were set to reach Europe this month, boosting availability.Europe’s outright Group III base oils prices fell in the fourth quarter of last year amid a seasonal slowdown in demand. The region’s slowing economic growth compounded the drop in demand.But Group III prices firmed relative to Group I and Group II prices as tighter supply partially countered the weaker demand.Premium-grade base oils imports of little more than 5,000t from Bahrain and UAE combined in November fell from already-low volumes of less than 6,800t the previous month, EU data showed..The volume was the lowest since June 2020, when lockdowns in Europe slashed lubricants and base oils demand in the region.Imports from the two countries had averaged more than 20,000 t/month in the first nine months of last year.A pick-up in shipments from Qatar in November partially cushioned the drop in supplies.Even with the supplies from Qatar, Europe’s total imports of less than 37,500t in November was down from typical levels of more than 46,000 t/month in the first nine months of the year.Europe’s premium-grade base oils imports from Bahrain and the UAE already slid in the first nine months of the year as more supplies moved instead to other markets like the US.The drop in shipments in October and November was even sharper.The slowdown this time coincided with a slide in US base oils imports from Bahrain and UAE in November.Imports slowed as scheduled plant maintenance work in Bahrain cut availability from that supplier.Europe and US imports from the UAE also fell sharply. The slowdown suggested moves to build stocks or a change in the supplier’s production compared with previous months..Spain’s Dec Cartagena exports rise
