Calumet will have a turnaround at its Shreveport, La., base oil plant starting in early March. On the pale oil side, San Joaquin Refining is preparing for a turnaround in late February.
No posted price moves were reported this week.
Calumet is preparing for a turnaround of about 20 days for its Shreveport plants hydrotreater starting in the first week of March next year, affecting production only of its 325 and 700 cuts. Calumet plans to build sufficient inventories to cover the turnaround. The Shreveport plant has 4,800 barrels per day API Group I, 7,000 b/d Group II and 100 b/d naphthenic base oil capacity.
San Joaquin Refining will start its turnaround in late February at its 8,100 b/d naphthenic plant in Bakersfield, Calif. The company plans to manage inventory in January and February to get through the two-week shutdown.
Temporary voluntary allowances (TVAs) offered in November are likely to remain active until the end of the year, and it remains to be seen if they will be removed to start the new year, sources have suggested. They pointed out that buying interest seems to have slowed down this week, and that it is expected to stay slow the last two weeks of the year because the holidays fall in the middle of the week, limiting activity.
Sources also indicate large volume buyers have purchased what they require for the rest of this year, and sellers appear pleased with their current inventory situations.
WTI settled on the CME/Nymex at $97.22 per barrel on Tuesday, Dec. 17, down $1.29 from last Tuesdays settlement at $98.51/bbl.
Brent crude was trading around $110.41 per barrel late yesterday on the CME, up $1.03 from $109.38 a week ago.
LLS (Light Louisiana Sweet) was trading at a premium to WTI of around $5.15/bbl on Dec. 16, compared with $4.60/bbl on Dec. 10.
Historic U.S. posted base oil prices and WTI and Brent crude spot prices are available for purchase in Excel format.