Weekly EMEA Base Oil Price Report

Meanwhile, Israel has insisted on maintaining rights to defend itself from drone and missile attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah is a proxy organization for the Iranian regime. All details are being kept confidential, until such times as Donald Trump and Mojtaba Khamenei sign off on the final agreement.

The mercurial President Trump suggests that the end is nigh for the Iranian war, and that principal objectives will have been met by the U.S. waging war on Iran over the past near fourteen weeks. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say, hence global spectators await the final announcements from both sides.

The U.S. blockade of Iranian ports continues as does the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps control of Hormuz, but with positive vibes coming out of negotiations, vessels waiting to transit Hormuz are gearing up in readiness to make passage as soon as owners’ permissions are granted to masters. All types of vessel are represented in the flotilla both inside and outside the gulf – tankers, bulk carriers, container and dry cargo ships – are looking to sail through the channel.

With a large number of incoming vessels still carrying cargoes, there is an expectation of huge congestion in gulf ports, with vessels having to wait longer to discharge cargoes. There are a number of base oil cargoes eagerly awaited by receivers, many of whom have had to suspend operations due a lack of raw materials to blend finished lubricants. It will take months to restore businesses to pre-war status, and some companies having shut up shop and closed down permanently.

The Middle East, although only one of the regions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has been the most affected by the war, but effects are filtering through other regions, such as the dearth of API Group III availabilities in Europe, caused by the suspension of supplies from Middle East Gulf sources. The three production hubs in the gulf – in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar – have been lost to the supply chain. The latter two facilities sustained damage from Iranian attacks early in the conflict and require repairs. The Adnoc plant in Al Ruwais, UAE, apparently is largely unscathed, but the halt of shipping movements has interrupted supply.

Questions around future supplies, and the timing thereof, remain unanswered as damage and necessary repairs still to need to be fully assed. Only after expert evaluation will the full picture be revealed and some sort of timescale established as to when supplies of Group III base oils can be expected to flow again from these vital and critical sources.

Alternative sources have been upping their game by optimizing production of Group III base oils to cover anticipated requirements in markets such as Europe and U.S. In Europe, companies such as Iberian Lube Base Oil Co. (the joint venture between SK-Enmove and Repsol in Cartagena, Spain) have been sending additional large cargoes to hubs in Northwestern Europe to bolster availability of Group III premium base oils, while distributors such as Chemlube (carrying Adnoc base oils) and Shell’s Stasco (Bapco) seem likely to run dry over the next few weeks.

Cargoes from Malaysia and Indonesia are also taking up the baton, and cargoes are also planned from South Korea during the next few months.

With prices escalating to levels never seen previously, the differential between Group III oils with full and partial slates of finished lubricant approvals has largely disappeared; all Group III material is commanding rates unimaginable and inconceivable prior to the Iran war.

Crude and Gas Oil Prices

There may be some light at the end of the tunnel, with the suggestions that an agreement can be reached on some form of peace settlement. Crude oil and petroleum products such as diesel and jet fuel have fallen in price with markets expecting more adjustments as events unfold. Base oil values still face upward pressure from shortages and tight supply scenarios in various locations around the European, Middle Eastern and African regions.

There will be expected regional variations but the reversal of refineries, particularly in Europe, to produce more base oils rather than optimizing distillate output may take months to adjust.

Crude prices have moved lower Monday on tentative hopes attached to negotiations on the Middle East war.

Dated deliveries of Brent crude: $97.55/bbl, July front month
West Texas Intermediate: $90.95/bbl, July front month
European low-sulfur gas oil: $1,056/t, June front month

Source: London ICE trading late Monday, May 25

Europe

Group I base oil availability is now incredibly tight, with prospective buyers looking for anything which is remotely available and can be used to maintain operations in blending plants. Many buyers have been forced into moving across to Group II as an option, but have found difficulties in adjusting formulations and additive packs to produce the same slate of finished lubricants.

New force majeure are coming almost weekly from lubricant blenders announcing large contractual arrangements threatened by a lack of raw materials to manufacture quantities of lubricants required for resale into commercial and retail markets.

Group I supplies have been restricted due to cut backs in base oil refinery runs, with producers pushing optimum distillate production, sacrificing quantities of base oils.

Rerefiners have been popular with blenders buying material from Egyptian, Saudi Arabian and Greek rerefiners, who are now active in “distant” markets of Northwestern Europe and the U.K.

Containers of base oils are being traded to new receivers, but with time delays on deliveries due to liner container vessels sticking to strict schedules.

Most blenders havens realized that price increases to finished lubricants are necessary and are required to cover replacement costs of base oils and additives.

Some binders are expecting prices to fall should a peace deal be done between Trump and Iran, but with Group I base oils remaining short amidst an extremely tight market, it is difficult to predict what will happen.

There are no possibilities for export sales at this time, with every available European barrel of Group I base oils being purchased by regional buyers.

One major does continue to send large cargoes to affiliated companies in locations such as Singapore and South Africa, and whilst these large cargoes can be described as exports from Europe, they basically form a global supply rebalancing. The producer who has moved prices upwards nine times since the end of February has not announced any further upward adjustments during last week.

Prices are maintained on the basis that the market is looking to get guidance as to what the future holds for feedstock prices, and will the bias to distillates continue, maintaining a tight Group I base oil market.

Group I

European exports, basis FOB
No current prices

Northwestern Europe, FCA Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam
SN150: $2,350/t-$2,930/t
SN500: $2,450/t-$3,050/t
Bright stock 150: $2,795/t-$3,200/t

Eastern Europe FCA
No prices available from PK Orlen or Mol

Mediterranean, FCA Spain, Greece, Italy
SN150: $2,780/t
SN600/500: $2,850/t
Bright stock: No Availabilities

Pan-European, FOB/FCA
SN150: €2,200/t-€2,485/t
SN500/600: €2,125/t-€2,585/t
Bright stock 150: €2,560/t-€2,730/t

Pan-European prices are assessed on an aggregate basis taking prices from Scandinavia, Poland, France, Germany, Benelux, Spain, Italy, Greece, the United Kingdom, and Baltic States.

The euro/U.S. dollar exchange rate is quoted at $1,16417 on Monday 25th May 2026.

European Group II base oil prices continue to move higher, although there appears to be a move for numbers to stabilize around current levels, with buyers indicating that they cannot pay higher levels because finished lubricants’ prices are becoming unsustainable, with number of buyers/ end users declining to accept deliveries at prices requested by blenders.

Prices remain around $3,030/t for the 150N grade, with 600N at $3160/t, both on the basis of FCA sales Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam.

Availability of Group II base stocks was previously declared adequate, but some buyers report some supply issues with delays to imported cargoes from U.S. sources. One major supplier had very little stocks in tank, but the arrival of a vessel in Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam with a large cargo of Group II grades has solved the immediate crisis.

Another large cargo has loaded out of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast and is now en route to Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam to discharge. The vessel will arrive during the first half of June, replenishing stocks and inventory for this supplier.

Supplies of Group II base oils are being directed towards Northwestern Europe from Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. The European market being tight and offering higher prices than alternative markets in India and Africa, and Luberef has surplus product because of the hold on base oils moving into Middle East Gulf, so the European market becomes a natural choice.

Prices remain extremely volatile and are still under upward pressure, but levels are unchanged this week reflecting the latest round of increases advised some ten days ago.

Prices are now assessed at around €2,425/t-€2,570/t for 100N and 150N grades, with 600N between €2,550/t-€2,680/t.

Group II, FCA basis
110N: €2,425/t-€2,570/t
150N: €2,425- €2,595/t
220N: €2,400/t-€2,475/t
600N: €2,555/t-€2,680/t

These prices apply to a wide range of Group II base oils that may be sourced from within Europe and imported from the U.S., the Red Sea and Asia-Pacific.

Group III European base oil markets are facing depletion with all avenues being explored to attempt to supplement a future supply scene. A number of distributors have issued force majeure notices to contracted customers and regular buyers. Some of the notices are effective immediately with others seemingly backdated to May 1, giving flexibility to suppliers to eke out stocks as best as possible, and perhaps in the most equitable manner. The reasons cite the current logistical and supply issues caused by the Iranian war in the Middle East.

Buyers are searching for alternative suppliers of Group III base oils, but established suppliers and distributors have their own portfolio of buyers, many having purchased Group III base oils from the same suppliers for many years.

Middle East Gulf supplies are starting to come to a halt with only one cargo still to arrive into Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam from Bahrain. The vessel sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on the night of Feb. 28, narrowly escaping he blockade that followed.

Refineries in Bahrain and Qatar have currently halted production of Group III base oils. The damage to the units remains unknown, but one of two production trains at the Pearl gas-to-liquids refinery in Ras Laffan, Qatar, was damaged in an airstrike, and Shell, a partner in the joint venture, said repairs will take a year. Similarly the Sitra complex in Bahrain has been badly damaged by explosions and fires. Until inspectors can get on the ground and assess damage and a repair timetable, the markets in India, Europe, the U.S. and China will have to wait for news.

A European distributor has advised that even with little or no damage to base oil production at Al Ruwais in Abu Dhabi, Hormuz remains closed, and the chances of finding and chartering suitable vessels may take months.

Blenders looking at options to use polyalphaolefins to replace Group III and Group III+ base stocks, but surplus PAOs are not available as there are only a few European producers such as ExxonMobil, Ineos and Chemtura, and they have commitments to contracted customers. Prices in respect of PAOs have rocketed, with metallodecene grades, such as PAO 100, topping $5,000/t last week.

Two large cargoes have loaded out of Cartagena, Spain, with the last vessel en route to Antwerp to discharge another large Group III cargo into hub storage. 

Prices for Group III oils with partial slates of finished lube approvals, FCA Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam and Northwestern Europe, are raised again, with imminent shortages facing buyers over the coming months. A number of blenders are investigating using more Group II as replacement base oils for some blends . They have been working with additive suppliers to see if varying additive packs can assist in this alternative.

Group III

Partly approved, FCA Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam, Northwestern Europe
4 cSt: €3,350/t-€3,400/t
6 cSt : €3,345/t-€3,395/t
8 cSt: €3,150/t-€3,250/t

Fully approved, FCA Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam, Northwestern Europe
4 cSt: €3,375/t-€3,425/t
6 cSt: €3,365/t-€3,420/t
8 cSt: €3,400/t-€3,450/t

All the above products sold on a delivered basis will be subject to transportation charges, added to the prices above.

Rerefined, FCA Germany
4 cSt: €3,050/t
5 cSt: €3,040/t
6 cSt: €3,040/t

Baltic Sea

Russian domestic base oil prices have been boosted by 75% in April, year on year. This very useful statistic is published in another base oil report, but does not identify a starting point. Hence applying percentage increases to prices become meaningless.

This report can assume that prices one year ago may have been as low as $700/t for SN500, so with the increases current levels may only be around $1,225/t, a very low price given the international market price for Group I SN500 is currently around $2,850/t. However, anything is possible in Russia right now. There were more Ukrainian strikes on a number of base oil producing refineries following a huge barrage of drones and missiles launched at Kyiv over the weekend.

There are no reports of Russian bulk base oil cargoes leaving Baltic ports, although some could be moving on shadow fleet vessels. Suggestions are that Russian base oils are being exported in flexi-tanks remains unverified, with quantities vague, and destinations unknown.

Black Sea & Turkey

Turkish buyers are in at the markets for any chances to purchase European quality Group I base oils, with Yanbu or Jeddah being favored. Prices will be high, and there remains the perennial problem for Turkish traders to access dollars through the Central Bank. Purchases would require to be made against letters of credit or payment in advance, but would be difficult from within Turkey, although some Turkish traders have access to funds and credit lines in banks outwith Turkey.

Turkish blenders purchased more Group I base oils from AMOC and APC in Alexandria. Group I base stocks were supplied into Gebze, Turkey.

Turkish buyers have been encouraged to share bright stock cargoes with EGPC supplied material from Yanbu, but so far no reports of this practice have been heard.

Tupras prices unchanged this week, but after multiple increases during April, availabilities are not clear.

Group I, ex rack Izmir
Spindle oil: Tl 82,410.00/t plus, VAT Tl 18,511.30/t
SN150: Tl 78.933.00/t plus, VAT Tl 17,815.90/t
SN500: Tl 80,668.00/t plus, VAT Tl 18,162.90/t
Bright stock: Tl 99,318.00/t, plus VAT Tl 21,892.90/t

Sales incur a standard loading charge of Tl 10,146.50/t which remains unchanged and should be added to the prices above.

Traders in Turkey have again advised that no sale offers will be forthcoming for the Group II material arrived from Taiwan around one month ago. Traders are using this material to blend and will sell finished lubricants at today’s going rate, making decent profit, but revenue will be required to finance replenishment barrels to continue blending finished lubes selling in the Turkish market, and also being exported to markets such as Ukraine and Greece.

It is not clear whether shipments of Group III from Cartagena, Spain, have continued in the wake of the run-up in prices. Repsol has been supplying these oils in small shipments of 800-1,200 tons. It is doubted that these quantities are finding a way into Gemlik, but this report will try to contact shipping agents in the port for clarification.

Group II, ex-works
110N and 220N: no offers
350N: no offers
150N: no offers
500N/600N, ex Taiwan: Product being used in blends locally.

Group III

Partly approved
Tatneft 4 cSt, FCA: no avails. There have been no Turkish imports of Russian base oils, including Group III for some months, perhaps due to Russian local demand, or a dearth of available base oils due to refinery damage and maintenance schedules which are always in the spring.

Fully approved
From Cartagena, Spain, CIF Gemlik: €3,450/t-€3,520/t.

Middle East

A large cargo from Yanbu loaded and sailed for Singapore. This was  the first cargo from Saudi Arabia into Singapore since November last year.

Cargoes are also loading for India, a large cargo comprising of Group II grades in excess of 19,000 tons total. This cargo will be shared between a number of receivers, possibly two or three large blenders.

Group II grades are also moving to Durban, South Africa, for receivers in that port. The cargo size normally varies between 6,000 and 8,000 tons.

Luberef is sending both Group I and Group II base oils into the European market under the wing of S-Oil. Vessels have now been fixed.

Talking to sources in Sharjah today, all are on edge awaiting news on the Iran-U.S. deal for peace, which would include to opening of the Strait of Hormuz, allowing free flow of vessels some of which have been at anchorage for almost three months.

On contacting a couple of vessel owners/operators during last week, it became clear that most considered that the Hormuz closure would be short, and that free passage would have been available a couple of weeks following the U.S. attacks on Iran. Twelve weeks later, it has proved to be an expensive business having a vessel at anchorage for that length of time. Two of the companies this report talked with were able to say that the daily rate for the vessels, both of which were around 12,000 tons dead-weight tons, would have been around $14,000 per day.

This puts into perspective what the costs of this war actually come to, when getting down to the details. Eighteen vessels carrying base oil cargoes from various sources remain at anchorage, hoping that each day will be the last.

Discharging will be problematic, as and when Hormuz opens, but the main ports in United Arab Emirates have been working at contingency plans to accept tankers carrying base oils. These are not yet finalised, but vessel masters will e notified as to how and when berthing will take place depending on the port.

One blender talking last week commented that they had enormous quantities of finished branded lubricants in drums, and smaller packages in cartons, lying in warehouses waiting to get hold of containers to load these quantities to fulfil orders which were place prior to the end of last year! The contact said that it could be months before all shipments could be made, due to an impending shortage of containers and container vessels, which do not hang around at anchorage for twelve weeks, other than feeder ships which were trapped within Middle East Gulf when Hormuz was closed.

Lubricants were to due be moved in March to receivers in East Africa, South Africa and to buyers in South American countries. Some sources in Dubai and Sharjah have reported that there are huge financial problems developing and that state banks are stepping in to furlow companies during this period of unrest. This would involve financing companies by way of loans to protect businesses from the effects of the war.

With capital tied up in cargoes that have had to be paid to traders the local banks are also turning to governments to bail out companies in the short to medium term to allow trade and business to resume.

Ship agents in the UAE, have confirmed that there are 18 cargoes of base oils swinging at the hook, waiting to discharge in ports such as Hamriyah, Jebel Ali and Ras al Khaimah. Cargoes are from U.S., South Korea, Thailand and Singapore.

Base oil prices in the UAE spiked in the early days of the war, but with very little, or no product left in storage, there are no reported FCA sales. The last prices are taken down since they are no longer relevant or valid.

Group II base oils are basis FCA, or on an RTW delivered basis UAE and Oman. Supplies of Group II in storage are all depleted and prices have likewise been suspended until new cargoes are discharged. There are small quantities arriving by truck from Fujairah, but are not being resold.

Group II
110N, 150N and 220N: Prices suspended
600N: Price suspended

Group II base oils were/will be imported into the UAE and other Middle East Gulf ports in Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait and were supplied from a number of  sources, Red Sea, U.S., South Korea, Singapore and Europe. Cargoes were discharged into storage in the UAE, then smaller parcels were transhipped to ports around Middle East Gulf, or delivered by RTW.

No further updates or reports have been received from Ras Laffan in Qatar, Sitra in Bahrain or Al Ruwais in Abu Dhabi.

Group III base oils, FCA Hamriyah or Sharjah port, or delivered by RTW in UAE and Oman, are no longer available due to the shutdown at Sitra, and it would appear that material is not presently coming out of Al Ruwais. A distributor in the UAE has temporarily ceased selling product and will restart as and when material is forthcoming from Adnoc. With the news that Adnoc base oil plant is undamaged by the Iranian strikes, supplies from this source may be reinstated sooner.

Group III
Prices are suspended for the moment.

Netbacks for Group III base oils ex Al Ruwais, Sitra and Ras Laffan are suspended for the time being.

Africa

A large cargo of Group I and Group II base oils loaded out of the U.S. Gulf Coast for receivers in Durban. The cargo is believed to have arrived in port and is discharging. This may have completed  prior to this report being read.

Another large composite base oil cargo has loaded or will load in the next few days out of Rotterdam and Fawley, U.K., for a major, supplying distributors and affiliated companies in South Africa. The vessel will discharge in Durban during the second half June or early July.

A report that a Northwestern European base oil cargo loaded for Nigeria is fake. The cargo loaded will discharge in Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea. This is a repeat of the milk-round cargo that encompasses the supply to the Ghana tender, often including Group I barrels for receivers in Conakry and Abidjan.

No further cargoes are expected to be supplied into Nigeria for some considerable time, with receivers in that part of the world facing having to purchase base oils at three times the prices paid on the last arrivals, all of which were consigned prior to the Iran war. Buyers in Nigeria are not prepared or ready to accept higher prices that would now have to be paid for any future cargoes. This will not be happening given that trading in Nigeria has become more and more risky, with large exposure to unsecured cargoes. The days of one letter of credit covering a whole cargo lot are gone and will probably never return.

Dollar exposure, the constant risk of buyers back trading, re-negotiating the price after the cargo is loaded and on the water, and even after discharge.

The Nigerian market has lost all appeal to traders who have been involved in this rather niche market for a number of years, and who have adapted to accept the changes in the ways of doing business and trading in Nigeria.

Nigerian buyers would have to pay around $3,259/t for quantities of SN900 to be delivered into Apapa port in Lagos.

One report heard on the grapevine was that if no base oil cargoes arrive into Apapa, then the Nigerian Government/NNPC may get involved. To what extent, and how this might happen is anyone’s guess, but it can be assumed that it will not be simple or efficient and will cost someone somewhere a lot of money!

All the last arrivals were negotiated prior to the Iran war, therefore resellers in Lagos will now be making considerable margins on new sales (where they can), having hiked their selling prices to “international” levels.

The Nigerian naira’s exchange rate was NGN 1,356 to the dollar Monday.

The last round of Nigerian Group I prices, CFR Apapa, remain valid, since no new offers have been made or will be made. All cargoes recently arrived into Apapa, were sold at prices valid prior to the Iranian war. Levels were around the following numbers.

Group I
SN150: $885/t
SN500: $925/t
SN900: $1,035/t

Ray Masson is director of Pumacrown Ltd., a trader and broker of petroleum products in London, U.K. Contact him directly at pumacrown@email.com.

Lubes’n’Greases shall not be liable for commercial decisions based on the contents of this report.

Historic and current base oil pricing data are available for purchase in Excel format.