Asia’s February base oils supply falls

Base oils supply in Asia-Pacific dipped to a four-month low in February as output fell everywhere from Japan and South Korea to Thailand.

Output is likely to stay lower over the coming months during a round of plant maintenance work in the second quarter of the year.

Supply of close to 852,000t in February fell from more than 955,000t the previous month, government and industry data showed.

The volume was derived from seven key suppliers in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding China and Indonesia.

Including China, supply of around 1.14mn t in February was the lowest in more than two years.