U.S. lubricant sales volumes for the third quarter of 2002 barely improved from the same period a year earlier, and remained down from several years ago, according to the latest report from the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association.
The new Quarterly Lubricant Sales Survey, released last week, states that sales during the third quarter of 2002 were 0.9 percent higher than during the same period of 2001, thanks to a 15.4 percent jump in sales of process oils. The rest of the industrial segment slid 7.7 percent, while sales of automotive lubes dipped 0.5 percent. Grease sales rose 0.7 percent.
The volume of lubricants sold in the third quarter 2002 was 2.9 percent off from the third quarter of 1997, the base year for the survey, and 11.4 percent lower than the third quarter of 1999. For the first three quarters of last year, lube sales volumes were still lagging 2001 by 0.2 percent.
The survey is based on self-reported sales by a limited number of companies and is designed to be used as a gauge of market trends, rather than a measure of the markets size.
The report also stated that 16.6 million gallons of base oil were produced by U.S. refiners during the third quarter, up from 14.5 million and 15 million gallons in the first and second quarters, respectively. Volumes were up for both paraffinics and naphthenics, with the former accounting for 80 percent of the total. NPRA obtains information on base oil production from the U.S. Department of Energy.