Global base oils – week of Feb 6: Cargo flows

·        Singapore ships large cargo to South Africa last week – first in more than four months.

·        Singapore takes delivery of unusually large cargo from Taiwan last week.

·        Taiwan’s January base oils shipments rebound from December levels, with pick-up in flows extending into early February.

·        Revival in Chinese demand likely to curb flow of Taiwan shipments to other markets in February.

·        But Taiwan shipments to southeast Asia extend into early February.

·        More than 60,000t of base oils from South Korea move to US Gulf coast in January, rising sharply from December volume.

·        No new shipments to Kenya in more than a month - most recent cargo reached Kenya around 15-20 December 2022.

·        Saudi Arabia’s January base oils shipments from Yanbu and Jeddah show signs of falling from December.

·        Large cargo from Saudi Arabia scheduled to reach Tanzania in coming week.

·        Large cargo, likely of premium grades, loads from UAE this week.

·        Another large cargo, likely of premium grades, loaded from UAE last week before moving to Qatar.

·        Another large cargo from UAE loaded in 2H January, set to reach US Gulf coast at end-February.

·        At least three cargoes depart Bahrain in January, versus four cargoes in December.

·        Large cargo loaded from Bahrain in 1H January, set to reach US in 2H February.

·        Large cargo from Europe scheduled to reach India in coming week. Cargo likely includes very light grades from Spain and Group I base oils from Italy.

·        Large cargo from Kaliningrad scheduled to reach Turkey in coming week.