Effective Friday, May 20, Holly upped its 70, 100 and 150 vis grades by 27 cents/gal, bumped up 250 vis by 30 cents/gal and 500 neutral by 27 cents/gal. Bright stock was adjusted higher by 30 cents/gal. The company acknowledged that inventories are very low while strong demand persists. Holly added that it has been turning away new business opportunities for a while.

Chevron boosted all its posted prices by 30 cents per gallon effective Monday, May 23. Chevron said that steeper prices are the result of strong demand alongside supply disruptions.

Paulsboro Refining alerted its customers that posted price hikes would be in effect Tuesday, May 24. The company increased its full line of neutrals by 27 cents/gal.

Today, May 25, ConocoPhillips shifted postings up. Its Group II Pure Performance postings went up by 30 cents/gal. In the Group II+ category, Ultra-S 2 rose 45 cents/gal and Ultra-S 3 by 55 cents/gal. Group III Ultra-S 4 is up by 40 cents/gal while Ultra-S 8 increased by 55 cents/gal. ConocoPhillips markets S-Oils Group II+ and III base stocks in North America.

SK plans to raise all of its Group II+/III/III+ Yubase posted prices by 55 cents/gal on Friday, May 27.

Also on Friday, May 27, Calumet said it will push up its full line of paraffinic neutrals in both the Group I and II categories by 30 cents/gal.

Ergon is planning to make a paraffinic oil price adjustment effective Friday, May 27. It will raise the price of all the paraffinic specialty oils from its Newell, W.Va. plant by 27 cents/gal. Ergon does not publish posted prices.

Last Thursday, the Mississippi River crested in Vicksburg at 57.1 ft., slightly lower than the previously anticipated level at 57.5 ft. In a statement Ergon said that its Vicksburg refinery operated without interruption during this monumental flood, and operations at alternate rail loading sites continue to improve.

Ergon also said that due to sporadic river closures, there have been some delays in barge traffic around Natchez, Miss. Going forward, the U.S. Coast Guard has stated that the Mississippi River will remain open as the crest moves south through Natchez.

At its crest, the flood peaked at a foot higher than has ever been recorded. Ergon will remain on constant alert until the water recedes to a safe level, and operations return to normal, the company said.

Many industry sources with operations located along the various tributaries impacted by the recent flooding say that all means of transportation (waterborne, rail and truck) remain a challenge, and delays are expected for weeks to come.

On Friday, Motiva will commence a long planned and highly anticipated turnaround at its Port Arthur, Texas, refinery. The company indicated that the downtime could last about five weeks while maintenance is being performed on one of Motivas three base oil trains. The soon-to-be-downed unit produces the companys Group II 220 vis Star 6. Motiva is currently on a 50 percent sales allocation for this grade while also maintaining a 110 percent sales allocation for its Star 5+ cut.

Calumet said it recently restarted the propane deasphalting unit at its Shreveport, La., paraffinic refinery, but the unit has not acheivedfull rates at this time. The PDA unit produces bright stock and had experienced a production disruption in late March. Calumetalso completed aplanned turnaround late last week, slightly ahead of schedule, at its Princeton, La., naphthenic facility. That plant is running to scheme.

Vacuum gas oil prices remain firm with a premium assessed at around $21 to $25 per barrel over benchmark crude. Whether VGO values can retain their big premium remains to be seen. Energy sources pointed out that Valeros Aruba refinery, which produces large volumes of VGO, has recently come back on stream after a fairly long downtime.

At the close of the Tuesday, May 24, NYMEX session, light sweet crude futures ended at $99.59 per barrel, a gain of $2.68 compared to the May 17 settlement at $96.91/bbl.

Historic U.S. posted base oil prices and WTI and Brent crude spot prices are available for purchase in Excel format.