Base oils shipments from the Saudi Arabian ports of Yanbu and Jeddah extended their recovery in April at a time when plant-maintenance work in the region and in key outlets like India squeezed supply.The flow of shipments from Asia to the Middle East also stayed low in April for a second month.The dynamic increased the importance of supplies from Saudi Arabia, especially for buyers in the Middle East region.Base oils shipments from Yanbu and Jeddah combined rose to more than 60,000 tonnes in April, provisional shipping data showed.The volume rose from less than 50,000 tonnes the previous month and from a seven-month low of around 40,000 tonnes in February..The dip in shipments in February coincided with some scheduled maintenance work on a key base oils unit in Saudi Arabia during the first quarter of the year.Shipment volumes from Yanbu and Jeddah showed signs of easing so far in May from last month.The April shipments included a cargo to South Africa and steady flows to India.The flows to India consisted mostly of light and very-light-grade base oils. Most of that volume in turn consisted of Group II supplies.But there were signs of a slowdown in shipments to southeast Asia.Singapore has been a regular destination for growing volumes of base oils shipments from Saudi Arabia since the middle of last year.The rise in shipments coincided with increasingly tight availability of Group I base oils in Asia following the closure of several Group I units in the region in recent years.Singapore saw a pause in the arrival of shipments from Saudi Arabia so far in May, with the last cargo reaching the island-state around mid-April.The last time Singapore saw no monthly imports from Saudi Arabia was in April 2024.The slowdown in shipments to outlets like Singapore coincided with the shutdown of a Group I base oils unit in Iran from end-April for a month’s maintenance work..Global exports to Middle East stay lower in April.India’s April base oils imports rise
