Base oil exports from the United States climbed 12% to 4.1 million barrels in March – boosted by hefty increases in volumes sent to Mexico, Israel and the Netherlands, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Base oil import volumes to the U.S. declined 6% in March.
Mexico, Israel, Brazil, Belgium, Canada and the Netherlands imported the most U.S. base oils in the month, compared to March last year.
Exports to Mexico surged 87% to 1.4 million barrels, and Brazil’s take increased 5% to 324,000 barrels. Israel was the destination for 352,000 barrels of U.S. base oil in March, compared to none in the same month last year. That was the most exported to Israel since 324,000 barrels in May last year. Exports to the Netherlands skyrocketed more than 5,000% to 155,000 barrels.
On the downswing, U.S. base oil exports to Belgium dropped 40% to 412,000 barrels and to Canada fell 46% to 272,000 barrels.
The U.S imported 1.3 million barrels of base oil in March, compared to 1.4 million barrels.
South Korea and Canada exported more base oil to the U.S., although volumes from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in the Middle East fell.
The volume of base oil imported from South Korea surged 50% to 522,000 barrels in March.
The country with the second largest amount of base oil imported into the U.S. was Canada, at 374,000 barrels, a 14% increase.
Base oil imported from the United Arab Emirates tumbled 50% to 105,000 barrels and from Qatar dropped 62% to 118,000 barrels.