US blender Pennzoil Quaker State was the US’ largest base oils importer in September for the first time in three months amid steady flows from Qatar.
US base oils imports from South Korea held reasonably firm in September even as they edged down from the previous month.
But SK Lubricants Americas took delivery of a smaller share of the volume than usual, cutting its share of total imports. The company had been the US’ largest base oils importer in July and August.
Pennzoil boosted its share of US imports to more than 22pc of the total volume in September, government data showed.
The share was up from little more than 20pc the previous month and the highest since June.
US base oils imports of 1.50mn bl (211,000t) in September fell from 1.71mn bl in August to a three-month low, according to the EIA. Most of the volume consisted of premium-grade base oils.
Imports fell mostly because of a dip in supplies from Indonesia. But shipments from Qatar and South Korea also edged lower.
The impact on flows to Pennzoil was small as it accounted for an even larger share of the supplies from Qatar.
The impact on flows to SK Lubricants Americas was larger. It is typically the recipient of all the supplies originating from Indonesia. These fell more sharply in September.
Its share of supplies from South Korea accounted for around 33pc of the northeast Asian country’s total shipments in September. The share was down from more than 65pc of the total in August.
The lower share magnified the impact of the drop in supplies from South Korea in September.
A larger share of the supplies from South Korea moved instead to Motiva.
The effect was to cut SK Lubricants Americas’ share of US base oils imports to less than 12pc of the total in September, from more than 25pc in August.
Motiva’s share of US imports rose to more than 11pc of the total in September, up from little more than 5pc the previous month. Its volume and share of total imports was the highest since February.
