Base oils shipments from the Saudi Arabian ports of Yanbu and Jeddah fell to a three-month low in October, balancing out a pick-up in shipments from Asia that month.Exports from the two ports showed signs of rebounding in November, adding to the pick-up in supplies.The rise in shipments at year-end gave buyers in markets like Middle East and India more supply options and the leverage to hold off replenishing stocks.Expectations of a pick-up in availability of supplies of US origin at year-end added to the incentive for buyers to hold back and maintain sufficient stocks to cover immediate requirements.Any such pick-up in shipments from the US would likely reach markets like Middle East and India in the first few months of next year. Total shipments of less than 45,000 tonnes in October from Yanbu and Jeddah combined fell from close to 70,000 tonnes in each of the previous two months, provisional shipping data showed.Shipments from the two ports showed signs of reverting closer to that higher level in November.The October volume included the shipment of more supplies to Singapore.The shipments extended an increasingly regular flow of cargoes to the city-state in southeast Asia since the second quarter of the year.Plant closures in Asia over the past year left supply of Group I base oils and especially brightstock in the region increasingly tight.Firm FOB Asia cargo prices for the heavy-grade product reflected the tight supply.The shipments from Saudi Arabia likely helped to tap and ease that supply tightness.The October exports also included more supplies bound for Europe.The shipments similarly extended a strong pick-up in flows to a market where Group I supply also tightened this year.Europe’s base oils imports from Saudi Arabia came to more than 55,000 tonnes in the first nine months of the year, up from less than 30,000 tonnes during the same period a year earlier..Global exports to Middle East fall in September.India’s October base oils imports mixed.S Korea’s October base oils exports rise
