Weekly Americas Base Oil Price Report

Crude oil futures fell to $90 per barrel early in the week on prospects of a possible peace deal and showed little change on Wednesday ​on expectations of renewed U.S.–Iran talks and the potential for supply to be released from the ‌Middle East.

In the U.S., Calumet announced a posted price increase for its paraffinic base oils, effective April 15. The company’s Group I SN600 and bright stock will be increasing 70 cents per gallon and its Group II neutral 60/75/80/100/150/325 grades will be marked up 80 cents/gal. Calumet had previously communicated a number of price increases since the start of the war in Iran, with the latest round having gone into effect on April 7.

Last week, a majority of base oil producers announced posted price increases that went into effect between April 5-April 14. Suppliers continued to watch geopolitical developments very closely as prices would likely continue to be exposed to upward pressure as long as crude oil shipments from the Middle East were curbed and global values remained on high ground.

Lubricant Increases

Lubricant manufacturers have also communicated multiple price increases given the mounting cost of base oils, additives, packaging and transportation, with implementation dates peppered between March 11 and May 4. A number of suppliers have announced a second round of increases as the first adjustments were deemed insufficient to offset the sharp rise in production costs. Among the manufacturers that have announced increases so far were Calumet, CAM2, Castrol, Shell/SOPUS, PennStar, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Citgo, Phillips 66, Martin Lubricants, Amalie, Highline Warren, Reliance Fluid Technologies, TotalEnergies USA, Consolidated Brands/ZXP Technologies, Omni Specialty Packaging, and Valvoline. Most suppliers announced lubricant and grease increases of up to 9% to 35%, depending on the product, and some marked up prices by 48-85 cents/gal, with the higher amount applied to fully synthetic lubricants.

Group I and Group II

Group I and Group II supplies have tightened due to shifting refinery economics that have favored increased production of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel because of potential shortages and surging prices. However, there was no confirmation about base oil production rates at U.S. plants. Crude oil supplies were not necessarily an issue for U.S. producers because they run on domestic crude oil, but some refineries on the U.S. Gulf and West Coast do run on Arab and Middle East crude. In 2025, the U.S. imported roughly 490,000 barrels per day from the Middle East—about 8% of total imports—because many refineries are built to process heavy, high-sulfur (sour) crude, rather than the light, sweet oil produced in the U.S. Both suppliers and buyers have expressed concern about facing difficulties in building base oil stocks ahead of the hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin.

While suppliers generally keep inventories to cover requirements for 50 or 60 days, there was concern that these supplies would soon be depleted if plants were not running at top rates and global supplies continued to dwindle. Some producers have had to export base stocks to support internal operations in Asia. There were additional concerns about supplies during hurricane season, as both buyers and sellers like to build extra stocks ahead of the severe weather season that runs between June and November, but the current tight conditions may thwart those efforts. Demand from the automotive and heavy-duty segments starts to pick up in the spring ahead of the summer driving season, which could place further stress on inventories.

A majority of U.S. base oil producers have withdrawn spot offers and focused on fulfilling contract commitments, while managing inventory levels very carefully. Most producers have restricted sales volumes or have placed customers on allocation. The few suppliers that have been able to offer spot volumes for export have increased prices substantially. There has been particular interest in Group II/Group II+ supplies as some of these grades may be used as substitutes for Group III cuts, which have tightened on a global scale, sending prices to historic highs.

In Brazil, base oil prices have surged because of a tight domestic supply and demand ratio, and importers facing difficulties in securing spot cargoes from the U.S. and Asia. An outage at the local producer Petrobras’ plant has exacerbated the snug supply conditions. The producer was heard to have suffered a setback affecting Group I heavy-viscosity base oils and bright stock output since mid-February. Prices have climbed in line with those in other regions, with Group III base oils experiencing the most significant increases due to reduced supplies from the Middle East and a suspension of spot offers from Asian suppliers. The domestic producer has also announced hefty increases of approximately 30 percent for domestic sales in April.

In Mexico, reduced availability from the U.S. and from other sources such as Asia have catapulted prices to higher levels. Contract cargoes continued to be shipped from the U.S. to Mexico, but suppliers were very restrictive in terms of volumes, have placed customers on allocation, and have increased prices. Blenders were trying to transfer the raw material increases onto lubricants and greases, but increase implementation has been slow due to weak economic fundamentals.

In related Latin American business, a 4,000-6,000-metric ton lubes cargo was quoted for shipment from La Plata, Argentina, to Europe and Singapore at the end of April.

Group III

The Group III segment has been impacted the most by the war in the Middle East as about a third of global Group III supplies is produced in this region, and shipments have been effectively cut off by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Not only has the closure of this vital passageway tightened global supplies, but Iranian missile and drone attacks have damaged several refineries and base oil plants. One train at the Shell/Qatar Pearl GTL plant in Ras Laffan, Qatar, will be out of commission for at least one year following drone attacks, while the gas refinery that supplies its feedstocks has also been shut down. This was expected to have a significant impact on U.S. Group III supplies, particularly as base oils from the Shell plant are stipulated in some formulations. Drone attacks and supply disruptions at the ADNOC plant in Abu Dhabi and BAPCO facilities in Bahrain have also resulted in large volumes being taken out of the market.

Another key region in terms of Group III production is Asia, but many Asian producers are facing crude oil supply shortages as most refineries run on Middle East crude, and volumes moving out of the Persian Gulf have plummeted. Refineries were heard to be running at reduced rates and prioritizing fuels output versus that of other refined products such as base oils. One exception in Asia may be Malaysian producer Petronas, which is able to source domestic supplies of crude oil and has been able to keep production at stable rates. While Middle East base oil suppliers have been able to supply around 50-60% of volumes stipulated in contracts, Asian suppliers continued to meet most commitments and have not placed customers on allocation. However, observers warned that many suppliers have been able to meet requirements as they usually carry 50-60 days of inventory, but these buffer volumes may be depleted soon.

Some governments in Asia have released strategic emergency oil supplies, and refiners are also seeking alternative sources of crude oil outside of the Middle East, although refining yields may not be the same as most facilities were built to run on Arab crude oil. South Korea has secured 273 million ⁠barrels of crude oil from the Middle East and Kazakhstan through the end of the year, with supplies routed outside ⁠the Strait of Hormuz, media outlets reported this week. Saudi Arabia had agreed to ship about 50 million barrels of crude oil already allocated to South Korean companies from ports on the Red Sea in April and May.

Meanwhile, domestic Group III producers were trying to continue running plants at top rates to fulfill contract obligations, with a couple having to place customers on allocation. Spot offers have been withdrawn by a majority of suppliers. U.S. refiners are not as exposed to the oil supply crunch as producers in Asia because they are able to run plants on domestic crude oil, although some refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast also utilize Middle East crude.

Naphthenic Base Oils

On the naphthenic base oils side, producers have also communicated price increases for contractual transactions. Ergon, San Joaquin Refining, Calumet, and Process Oils communicated price increases that went into effect between March 10-April 7.

Not only were elevated Brent crude oil and diesel prices prompting naphthenic base oil producers to increase pricing, but a tight supply and demand balance also provided additional support. Recent and ongoing plant turnarounds plant and healthy demand for the light grades from the transformer oil sector have led to the snug conditions. Consumption of the heavy grades was not as robust, but may see an uptick from the rubber and tire segments ahead of the U.S. summer driving season, which traditionally begins on Memorial Day weekend in late May and lasts through Labor Day in September, marking a period of increased travel and higher gasoline consumption.

Calumet was expected to have built inventories ahead of a turnaround at its naphthenic plant in Princeton, Louisiana, which started this week and was anticipated to last two weeks.

San Joaquin Refining completed a scheduled turnaround at its refinery in Bakersfield, California, in March. The turnaround and a delayed restart depleted the producer’s inventory, but the supplier was currently working on rebuilding stocks.

Cross Oil started a turnaround at its plant in Smackover, Arkansas, on February 20. The program was expected to last approximately 23 to 25 days, and after a failed restart attempt, the plant was heard to be running.

Middle East Base Oil Capacity Shutdowns

Since the beginning of the U.S.-Israel-Iran war, Iran and its allied militias launched drones and missiles across the Middle East, targeting energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Iraq, and putting several facilities out of commission. These strikes exacerbated the dire oil supply situation, as not only were crude tankers unable to transit the Strait of Hormuz, but crude oil and refined products output have also been shut down. Several Middle East base oil producers have been forced to halt production and declare force majeure.

According to reports, Shell/Qatar Petroleum has halted production at its Pearl GTL Group II/Group III facility in Qatar after sustaining damage during aerial attacks on March 19. The unit, which can produce 300,000 metric tons of Group II base oils and 1,072,000 metric tons of Group III base oils per year, experienced a fire at one of its processing trains and production has been shut down, with sources expecting the plant to remain offline for an extended period, possibly one year or longer as the specially designed equipment at the plant may be difficult to repair and may need to be replaced, according to sources. Earlier Iranian attacks on Qatar Energy’s LNG refinery in Ras Laffan, which supplies feedstocks to the Pearl unit, caused damages that will put the facilities out of commission for several years, with the company expected to declare force majeure on LNG contracts for up to five years, Reuters reported.

Abu Dhabi state oil giant ADNOC has shut part of its Ruwais refinery complex in response to ‌a fire that broke out on March 10, following a drone strike. Sources indicated that while the Ruwais West refinery was shut down for inspection and safety reasons, other operations within the massive complex might be continuing at reduced capacity. According to sources, the Ruwais East unit was running and was expected to continue production, including that of base oils, but this could not be confirmed with the producer directly. The Ruwais complex houses a 600,000 metric-tons-per-year Group II and Group III plant.

In Bahrain, fire erupted at BAPCO’s refinery in Maameer on March 5 following an Iranian attack, forcing the refinery to declare force majeure on production. BAPCO operates a 400,000 tons-per-year Group III base oil facility in Sitra, within the BAPCO refinery complex. BAPCO originally indicated that base oil production had been unaffected, but it was not clear whether the unit was currently producing base oils.

Iran also attacked Iraqi oil facilities, further crippling refining operations in the country. In Saudi Arabia, a drone struck the SAMREF oil refinery in Yanbu, while Saudi forces intercepted a ballistic missile targeting the Port of Yanbu–one of the few ports where tankers are still able to lift cargoes as it is located on the Red Sea.

Crude Oil

Crude oil futures were largely stable on Wednesday on hopes that renewed talks between the U.S. and Iran would lead to a peace deal in the Middle East, with President Donald Trump declaring that the war was “very close to over.”

• West Texas Intermediate May 2026 futures settled on the Nymex at $91.28 per barrel on April 14, down from $112.95/bbl for front-month futures on April 7.
• Brent June 2026 futures were trading on the ICE at $95.21/bbl on April 15, up from $94.13/bbl for front-month futures on April 8.
• Louisiana Light Sweet crude wholesale spot prices were hovering at $105.97/bbl on April 13. Spot prices had settled at $122.01/bbl on April 6, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Diesel

Low-sulfur diesel wholesale, April 13 (April 6), EIA
New York Harbor: $3.84 per gallon ($4.39/gal)
Gulf Coast: $3.73/gal ($4.42/gal)
Los Angeles: $4.30/gal ($5.10/gal)

Gabriela Wheeler can be reached directly at gabriela@LubesnGreases.com

LNG Publishing Co. Inc./Lubes’n’Greases shall not be liable for commercial decisions based on the contents of this report.

Posted Paraffinic Base Oil Prices April 15, 2026

(Prices are FOB basis, in U.S. dollars per gallon and U.S. dollars per metric ton).

Archived base oil price reports can be found through this link: https://www.lubesngreases.com/category/base-stocks/other/base-oil-pricing-report/

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

*ExxonMobil prices obtained indirectly.
**Rerefiner