For the second consecutive month, base oil production in the United States was slightly higher in January than the running five-year average for that month, according to the information from the U.S. Energy Information Agency. The data suggest that supply in the market had recovered from the impacts of the COVID-19 – at least until severe winter weather caused power outages that disrupted refinery operations in Texas.

Transformer oil rerefiner Hydrodec said a proposed joint venture with a U.S. recycler of electrical transformers and other utility equipment remained in discussion, with possible changes after the potential JV partner instead expressed an interest in acquiring Hydrodec’s North American operations outright.

Brazil’s base oil production in February matched output from the same month of 2020 after lagging behind for most of the past year. Meanwhile the country’s base oil import volumes skyrocketed 200% higher than in the same month in 2020, according to recently updated government data.