Israel’s February base oil imports slide

Israel’s base oil imports slumped in February to their lowest in more than three years amid sliding shipments from Europe, US and Asia-Pacific.

Base oil imports fell back to 4,720 kilolitres (4,180t) in February, down by more than half from 11,410kl the previous month, government data showed. The volume was the lowest since mid-2018.

The January volume had already fallen from more than 20,000 kl/month during each of the last three months of last year.

Israel’s base oil imports surged to more than 70,000kl in the fourth quarter ahead of the implementation of new taxes on imports of base oils and lubricants from the end of last year.

The slump in imports from the start of this year suggest that some of these shipments have become less attractive following the implementation of the new taxes.

Israel had previously been a regular outlet for very-light grade base oils everywhere from South Korea to the US.

The volume of shipments moving to Israel was small relative to other markets that import large volumes of very light grade base oils, such as India.

Even so, the availability of Israel as such a destination provided more options for sellers whenever demand was more muted in other markets.