Brazil’s base oil production, which is mainly API Group I, increased by nearly 20% in May, while imports slipped by 6% and import volume year to date remained more than 40% behind the same period last year, according to data released last week by a government agency.
Brazil’s base oil production increased 18% to 46,000 metric tons in May, compared with 39,000 metric tons in the same month in 2021, the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels reported. Sequentially, May’s total was about identical to April’s production volume. Monthly production this year has been consistently in the range of 40,000 to 46,000 tons.
For the first five months of this year, Brazil’s base oil production was down 1% at 220,000 tons, compared with 223,000 tons in the same period last year.
In May, the country imported 68,000 tons of base oil, rising from 64,000 tons a year earlier. Sequentially, May’s total was a 36% increase from 50,000 tons imported in April, and surpassed March’s 67,000 tons as the highest monthly total this year.
Year-to-date through May, Brazil’s base oil imports dropped 44% to 275,000 tons, down from 487,000 tons in the first five months of 2021. Most of Brazil’s base oil imports – the majority of them API Group II – come from producers in the United States.