South Korea’s base oils output fell to a ten-month low in February even with scheduled plant maintenance work only starting at the end of the month.The dip in output coincided with a slump in the country’s base oils imports to a multi-year low, compounding the drop in supply.Lower supply lagged demand, triggering a reversal of some of the supply-build in January.Plant maintenance work in March and every month during the second quarter of the year raised the prospect of supply staying tight until the end of the first half of the year.South Korea's base oils output of 2.38 million barrels (334,500 tonnes) in February fell from 2.61 million barrels in January to the lowest since April 2024, industry data showed..Output was even lower last April because of maintenance work on a Group III unit at that time.Plant maintenance also impacted base oils output in February, although the shutdown only began at end-February.The maintenance work is scheduled to continue through March and end around mid-April.Base oils output in March faced additional disruption following the brief, unplanned shutdown of another base oils unit at the beginning of the month.Maintenance work on another base oils unit is then scheduled to begin in May.The prolonged round of planned and unexpected plant shutdowns since last December complicated refiners’ moves to build stocks ahead of the scheduled maintenance work.The more limited round of stock-building raised the prospect of magnifying the impact of the plant shutdowns.South Korea’s base oils imports slumped to a multi-year low in February amid a pause in shipments from Indonesia and dip in supplies from Japan.The slowdown magnified the size of the fall in base oils supply in February and contrasted with a recovery in the country's base oils exports.The diverging trends left supply lagging demand in February, partially reversing a sharp supply-build in January.The dynamic cut the size of a stock-build ahead of the round of maintenance work and raised the prospect of South Korea’s base oils exports staying lower than usual over the coming months..S Korea’s Feb base oils exports rebound
