Last week, Motiva also lifted Group II postings for two of its base oil grades, but most market players viewed this revision as a catchup with the previous round of increases, which had been implemented by a vast majority of producers in March.

It was not clear whether other paraffinic producers would be adjusting prices this week, but a number of sellers noted that demand had improved and availability of certain grades had become more limited.

A supplier commented that it was not surprising to see prices move up as demand had strengthened over the last three weeks and it had been difficult to keep up with orders.

Product movements within the spot segment have been quite brisk as well, a couple of sellers agreed, while buying interest for U.S. Group I base oils in Mexico has also been healthy.

On the naphthenics side of the business, activity has picked up the pace as well, with producers reporting sold-out positions for a number of grades on the back of recent planned and unplanned production outages.

San Joaquin Refining lifted its pale oil prices by 15 cents/gal to 25 cents/gal last week, following a string of similar increases by other naphthenic producers.

Upstream, West Texas Intermediate futures rose about 3 percent on Tuesday – reaching a new 2016 high – on the heels of a rally in the gasoline market. Crude futures climbed as the dollar fell for a second straight day ahead of Wednesdays Federal Reserve statement.

WTI settled on the CME/Nymex at $44.04 per barrel on April 26, up $2.96 per bbl from its April 19 settlement of $41.08 per bbl. Light Louisiana Sweet wholesale spot prices closed at $42.55 per bbl. on April 25, compared with $41.29 per bbl. on April 18, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Brent was trading at $45.74 per bbl on the CME on April 26, up $1.71 per bbl from $44.03 per bbl a week earlier.

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