Group III supplier Lithcon raised its postings this week,while Citgohas not joined the latestround of U.S. base oil price increases that began Oct. 21.
Lithcon, which markets base oils produced by South Koreas SK Corp., added 5 cents per gallon to both its postings. The company cited strong demand and rising crude costs since its last price movement. (Lithcon also announced that it will now list its products as 4 centistoke and 6 centistoke, rather than 100 SUS and 150 SUS.)
Citgo is the only major U.S. supplier of Group I and Group II stocks not to have joined the most recent round of price hikes. The Tulsa, Okla., company said it was still evaluating its options. Others in the market noted that Citgo has sometimes in the past taken more time to make such decisions.
Crude costs continued to ease over the past week, with the price on the New York Mercantile Exchange closing down 43 cents yesterday to close at $26.86 per barrel. Crude has fallen more than $3 per barrel this month. That, combined with the recent base oil markups, has boosted base oil refining margins by more than a dime per gallon.
Were definitely a lot better off now than we were a few weeks ago, one supplier said.
ChevronTexaco said its base oil customers were not affected by a power outage at its Richmond, Calif., refinerya week and a half ago. The facility has online co-generators meant to keep operations running during a power loss but they, too, were tripped. The company opted to shut down the entire refinery as a precaution, idling base oil production for two days. A spokesman said the company had ample inventories to cover deliveries and is now working to make up for lost production.
Historic U.S. posted base oil prices and WTI and Brent crude spot prices are available for purchase in Excel format.
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