Weekly Lubricant Report: Unstable but Dynamic Lubricant Market

Due to the imposition of European sanctions on Russian crude oil and the cancellation of the policy of reducing the number of corona cases to zero in China, global crude oil markets are facing an unstable outlook.

The cold in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in the Middle East, has increased production costs, and many production units cannot fulfill their commitments on time.

The price of Brent crude oil has reached about 86 dollars and the price of fuel in Singapore has increased significantly on January 16 and 17 2023, consecutively.

There are many competitions in Iran for the purchase of petrochemicals, especially vacuum bottoms by refineries. On January 15, India cut its bitumen price by $28. On the other hand, the price of Indian fuel decreased by about 7 dollars.

The conditions in the market are unstable, but it seems that more movements are happening. General rate increase (GRI) was received after 10 months and it has increased the cost of export transportation to the destinations of Mundra, Navashwa and Hazira.

Currently, the price of recycled base oil in Fob Bandar Abbas is 720-730, the price of paraffin wax is 1000-1020, and the price of caustic soda is 780-800 dollars. Also, the FOB Iran export price for base oil is 905-935 dollars.

This article was prepared by Mozhdeh Darbandizadeh, the account manager of Infinity Galaxy (www.infinitygalaxy.org).