美国三类基础油增长强劲，竞争加剧

Strong Finish for U.S. Base Oils

By  KiaraI Candelaria  Source:Lube Report Americas

【简讯】2017年，美国基础油总产量6490万桶，较2016年增加430万桶。其中三类基础油增长显著。分析师预测，三类基础油产量在未来五年内每年至少上涨8%，市场竞争进一步加剧。总体来说，燃油经济性和减排是所有级别润滑油的发展方向，因此高质量的基础油必不可少。

Base oil producers in the United States pumped out 64.9 million barrels of base oils in 2017, making it the second-best production year in a decade. This represents 4.3 million more barrels than the 2016 total of 60.6 million barrels, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data released at the end of February.

Despite a grim outlook in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, which temporarily closed several refineries when it buffeted the United States Gulf Coast in late August, paraffinic base oil production racked up 54.7 million barrels in 2017, up 6 percent from the year before. On the naphthenic side, producers churned out 10.2 million barrels, a 15 percent jump.

Harvey wasn’t the only event that battered base oil production in 2017. Because of several large plant outages and maintenance turnarounds in the first half of the year, base oil resellers had difficulty securing product for local customers, especially Group II base stocks, said Jeremy Kriska, director of sales and marketing at Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Tulstar.

“Group II’s availability was sporadic throughout the year, and it seemed to change by viscosity grade, which was a bit bizarre. Historically, it seemed like light neutral Group I or Group II have all been readily available, but last year there was a period of time when that got very tight,” Kriska remarked to Lube Report, adding that by contrast, heavy neutral grades had more availability and were easier to source throughout the year.

The tightness in the Group I segment could be at least partly due to the ongoing rationalization of plants producing that grade. Canadian refiner Imperial Oil recently announced that it would cease producing Group I base oils at its 2,400 b/d facility in Strathcona, Alberta, taking another source of virgin Group I away from the North American market.

Exports have been outweighing domestic consumption of base oils for some time now, and the EIA data reflect this. Sixty-two percent of base oil production in the U.S., or about 40.5 million barrels, was exported, a 42 percent increase over 2016. Imports, by comparison, grew modestly compared to 2016, with 15 million barrels brought into the market, almost a 6 percent increase. What was notable, however, is where the material came from.