The Netherlands’ base oils output stayed unusually high in October for a fifth month, at the same time as Europe’s premium-grade base oils imports extended their rise.Higher supply from within the region and from overseas markets left Europe’s Group II base oils volumes unusually high at the start of the fourth quarter of the year.Higher supply coincided with a seasonal slowdown in Europe’s lube demand at year-end. The slowdown exacerbated an ongoing slide in the region’s lubricants consumption.Higher supply and lower demand raised the prospect of more plentiful availability during the final weeks of last year.The Netherlands’ base oils and lube output of 101,000 tonnes in October exceeded the 100,000-tonnes level for the third time in five months.Output exceeded 92,000 tonnes during the other two of those five months.Output was up from average levels of 86,000 tonnes/month in 2023 and 78,000 tonnes/month in 2022.The surge in output followed plant maintenance work in the country in the first quarter of last year.The timing of the rise in output suggested the maintenance work could have included moves to raise production levels through measures such as debottlenecking.The Netherlands is home to Europe’s sole virgin Group II base oils plant.The country’s higher output coincided with a sustained rise in Europe’s imports of base oils from sources that are major producers of Group II supplies.Imports of more than 80,000 tonnes from those sources in October rose from less than 70,000 tonnes in September to a five-month high.The higher imports, combined with the Netherlands’ output, lifted Europe’s total premium-grade base oils supply to more than 180,000 tonnes in October.The volume was the second highest in eighteen months.Europe’s Group II base oils price premium to vacuum gasoil trended lower during the fourth quarter of last year, pointing to weaker supply-demand fundamentals during that period.The premium of Europe Group II prices over US export prices began to ease in November after rebounding from early August. It also remained much lower than during the fourth quarter of 2023.The lower premium similarly pointed to sufficient supply and curbed the attraction of moving more shipments from US to Europe.Any such slowdown in shipments would have curbed the size of any supply-build in Europe late last year.It would have also forced US refiners to move more surplus supplies to other outlets instead..Europe Oct Grp III supply stays low.Netherlands’ Sept base oils output rises
