Suppliers concur that there is no surplus of bright stock, which has been tight for over a year. Holly continues to enforce its 50 percent sales control on this cut, but the company anticipates that the sales restrictions may be improved or possibly removed in October. Buyers also admit that a few other mid and heavy vis grades are still difficult to source if they require more than prescheduled volumes.

The Group III and naphthenic sectors continue to cope with extremely tight supply conditions amid robust demand. Some players believe that this could be an ongoing situation well into 2011.

On Monday evening Ergon Refining in Vicksburg, Miss., experienced mechanical problems on a crude unit heater, and the company was forced to shut the unit down. Presently, the refiner is able to produce naphthenics from the base oil unit, but Ergon is assessing the problem to determine the longer term affect on pale oil production.

Ergons operating snag follows one that Calumet Refining experienced just a few weeks ago at its Princeton, La., plant.

Crude oil values began to rally late last week and by yesterday they had moved near $78 per barrel during intra-day trade. Higher futures were the result of a stronger U.S. dollar compared to other currencies, and a disruption in a key pipeline that feeds crude oil into the Midwest region.

At the close of the Tuesday, Sept. 14, NYMEX session, light sweet crude futures ended at $76.80 per barrel, a gain of $2.71 compared to the Sept. 7 settlement at $74.09/bbl.

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