In the Group II category, Motiva plans to lift its Star 3 (70 viscosity) and 4 (105) postings by 10 cents/gal. Star 6 (220) will move up by 15 cents/gal, and both Star 12 (600) and Group II-Plus Star 5+ will jump by 20 cents/gal. Motivas increased prices are effective Friday, April 4, the company said.

Sources said Flint Hills Resources has announced increases to its postings, but Lube Report was unable to confirm details at press time.

The recent wave of price hikes has been received with mixed views from the buying side. Some buyers believe that too many rounds of base oil increases have been pushed through during the first quarter. Some said the most recent spate of increases is not justified due to now-weaker crude values. However, other base stock consumers say they understand the challenges that base oil producers face, due to the constant volatility upstream and the high costs of raw materials.

There is little denying that margins have been squeezed, particularly this year as crude values bounded up to $100 per barrel. Margins succumbed to even greater pressure as oil prices continued up to $111/bbl. In the past several days, however, crude has moderated to $101 to $102/bbl.

Vacuum gas oil prices for low and high sulfur were largely sustained at steep levels averaging around $2.60 to $2.68 per gallon during mid-to-late February and much of March. However, in the past week or so, VGO values have eased by about 15 to 20 cents/gal, depending on delivery time, according to a few sources.

The recent VGO price decline is attributed to a number of fluid catalytic crackers (commonly referred to as cat crackers) either completely off-line or operating at reduced rates due to a variety of refinery issues such as shutdowns or planned and unplanned maintenance programs. Such outages have caused a build-up in VGO inventories, which has led to softer prices, pointed out one source.

In the meantime, the base oil supply/demand situation remains largely on target with customers orders meeting suppliers expectations. In some downstream segments, demand is deemed robust, while consumption in other end-use areas is soft.

At the close of the Tuesday, April 1, NYMEX session, front month light sweet crude futures settled the day at $100.98/bbl, down 24 cents from the previous weeks close at $101.22.

Carolyn L. Green, based in Houston, can be reached directly at carolynlgreen@gmail.com.

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