The latest entrants to this most recent "20 cents per gallon across the board" paraffinic base oil price increases continued last week with Holly Frontier (Group I), Motiva (Group II) and Paulsboro Refining (Group I) announcing price increases of 20 cents per gallon. Flint Hills Resources slightly bucked the trend by announcing a 22 cpg increase on its Group II base oils.
Phillips 66 advised customers last week it is increasing the prices of its Group II+ Ultra-S2 and Ultra-S3 and its Group III Ultra-S4 and Ultra-S8 by 20 cpg effective June 9.
Paulsboro Refining also advised customers last week it is increasing the prices of all its (Group I) VP base oils by 20 cpg effective June 8.
Holly Frontier advised customers earlier last week that it is increasing the prices of all its Group I solvent neutrals base oils by 20 cpg effective June 7.
Motiva also advised customers earlier last week that it is increasing the prices of all its Group II STAR base oils - STAR 4 (110 SUS), STAR 6 (220 SUS) and STAR 12 (600 SUS) - by 20 cpg effective June 7.
Flint Hills Resources slightly bucked the trend by announcing last week that it is increasing its Group II HC base oils by 22 cpg effective June 9.
The previous week, Phillips 66 (on its Group II Pure Performance), ExxonMobil on its Group I CORE and its Group II/II+ EHC) and Calumet (Group I and II Calpar) also announced a 20 cpg across the board price increase effective June 3 for Phillips 66 and ExxonMobil and June 7 for Calumet, all following Chevron's Group II 100R, 220R and 600R 20 cpg price increase, effective May 25.
A few weeks prior to this, the primary naphthenic base oil producers, including Ergon, Cross Oil, Calumet and San Joaquin Refining also announced price increases, all at 15 to 20 cpg - 15 cpg on the lighter viscosity grades (up to and including 600/750 SUS) and 20 cpg on the heavier grades.
West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude oil closed last Friday at $49.01 per barrel and $50.48 per barrel, respectively, after WTI also crossed the $50 per barrel level earlier in the week.
