July base oils shipments from Qatar rise

The delivery of base oils from Qatar to key outlets in Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific rose in July to a three-month high amid a surge in shipments to the US.

The key markets of US, Europe and Asia-Pacific took delivery of more than 165,000t of base oils from Qatar in July, government and customs data showed.

The volume rose from less than 135,000t the previous month to the highest since April.

Total shipments of 1.05mn t from Qatar in the first seven months of the year were down 10pc from 1.18mn t during the same period last year.

The volume fell because of a drop in shipments to Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Group III base oils supply in Europe got a boost this year from a pick-up in shipments from regional producers.

Group III base oils demand in Asia-Pacific faced pressure from a sustained slowdown in Chinese demand. The slowdown countered signs of firmer consumption in southeast Asia.

Those trends extended into July. Europe and Asia-Pacific shipments from Qatar fell from year-earlier levels for the third time in four months.

The outlier remained the US, whose imports from Qatar rose in July to a six-month high.

Its imports of more than 287,000t from Qatar in the first seven months of the year were up 21pc from less than 238,000t during the same period last year.

A structural rise in demand for Group III base oils in the US got a further boost from healthy economic growth, especially compared with Europe and China.

Its rising demand boosted its share of imports from Qatar to 28pc of the total so far this year, up from a 20pc share during the same period last year.