Russian base oils supplies tighten in February as refinery cut output amid seasonal maintenance according Legion Oil & Gas LLC market survey.
Five out of eight Russian refineries with base oils units have maintenance in February which are affecting their base oils output. Around 1.7 mln tons or 64% of total Russian base oils capacity is affected (see the table below).
| Producer | Location | Base oils capacity, 000t/yr |
|---|---|---|
| Lukoil | Volgograd | 550 |
| Lukoil | Perm | 440 |
| Rosneft | Novokuibyshevsk | 350 |
| Rosneft | Angarsk | 250 |
| Rosneft | Ufa | 240 |
| Rosneft/Gazprom | Yaroslavl | 350 |
| Gazprom | Omsk | 240 |
| Tatneft | Nizhnekamsk | 190 |
| Total | 2610 |
“It is one of the toughest maintenance for Russian base oils universe during the last 10 years” – Denis Varaksin, Legion Oil & Gas LLC GmbH base oils and slack wax director commented.
Maintenance is affecting all four producers: Lukoil (Volgograd refinery), Rosneft (Novokuibyshevsk and Yaroslavl refineries), Gazprom (Omsk and Yaroslavl refineries) and Tatneft (Taneco refinery, located in Nizhnekamsk) and has impact both on Group I and Group III supplies.
Turnaround at the refinery does not mean that there will be no base oils production. The scale of the impact depends on what unit and for how long is shut down.
For example, Rosneft, second biggest Russia’s base oils producer, offered for export in February about 33 000 tons of base oils, or 25% smaller volumes compared to December 2017. The company has two of its four base oils units affected by maintenance.
Maintenance has already impact on prices: Baltic and Black Sea base oils prices have increased 10-20 USD per ton during last two weeks.
Maintenance on base oils units also limits waxes supplies. Prices for slack waxes and petrolatum has also increased by 10-20 EUR per ton in Russia in February compared to January this year.
Stocks are still available
Despite heavy maintenance some trading companies in the Baltic still have product available for loading from stocks accumulated in December 2017 – January 2018. During those months Russia was loading near record-high volumes of base oils for export.
2018 was supposed to be a year of improved Russian base oils availability as there is additional 100 000 tons of Group III base oils unit launched in Yaroslavl which should reach its planned capacity this year.
Russian domestic lube demand eased: after two years of aggressive import replacement Russian lubes stocks are high. High finished lubricants stocks push major producers to sell more base oils to the market.
Legion Oil & Gas LLC is a trading firm focused on Group I and Group III base oils and slack wax supplies from Russian and Former Soviet Union (FSU) counties. The company specializes on flexi-container and trucks loadings. Legion Oil & Gas LLC regularly loads for export SN 150, SN 350, SN 500 and BS-150 base oils. To contact us please visit our website www.legionoilandgas.com or email us at info@legionoilandgas.com
