August base oil imports from Qatar fall

The delivery of base oils from Qatar to Asia-Pacific markets fell in August, balancing out steady volumes to the US and a surge in supplies to Europe.

The key markets of US, Europe and Asia-Pacific took delivery of around 135,000t of base oils from Qatar in August, government data showed.

The volume was down from more than 166,000t in July but up slightly from 130,000t the same month a year ago.

Lower shipments throughout most of this year cut total supplies from Qatar to 1.19mn t in the first eight months of the year. The volume was down 9pc from 1.31mn t during the same period last year.

Base oils supplies slowed as a 17pc slump in shipments to Asia-Pacific this year outweighed higher volumes to the US.

The trend reflected strong US demand for premium-grade base oils to produce high-end engine oils amid healthy economic growth in the country.

Lower demand in Asia-Pacific coincided with unusually weak economic growth in China, where frequent lockdowns in different parts of the country dampened activity.

Hong Kong imported no base oils from Qatar in August for the second time in three months.

Its imports of 209,830t from the Mideast Gulf country in the first eight months of the year were down more than a third from more than 331,000t during the same period last year.

Weak economic growth in China contrasted with rebounding economic activity in southeast Asia following the relaxation or removal of pandemic-related restrictions earlier in the year.

The region’s rising base oils imports from Qatar reflected that pick-up in activity.

Singapore’s base oils imports from Qatar came to almost 100,000t in the first eight months of the year, up from around 62,000t during the same period last year.

India was an outlier. The country’s economy and lube demand has grown strongly this year. Yet its base oils imports from Qatar have fallen.

The trend mostly reflected a fall in shipments of very-light grade base oils to India in response to a drop in domestic demand for the supplies.

Even so, India’s imports from Qatar were unusually low in August and September.

Europe’s base oils imports from Qatar also fell this year. The 9pc drop in shipments in the first eight months of the year was smaller than the slide in supplies bound for Asia-Pacific.

The drop in shipments to Europe coincided with a rise in regional availability of Group III base oils within that market.