Turkish refiner Tupras has completed maintenance at its Izmir base oil plant and is restarting sales.
Maintenance at the 400,000 t/yr Group I plant began in February and production restarted on 1 March, Tupras told customers.
The firm will resume sales of SN150 on 5 March and spindle oil on 7 March. Sales of SN500 are subject to availability, while bright stock sales were uninterrupted throughout the shutdown.
Production at the Izmir plant was intermittent last year. Operations were suspended in the first quarter for three months. Issues have persisted, including some customers securing volumes below their contracted allocations.
Turkish blenders have been looking for more competitively priced base oils to meet finished lubricant demand amid rising inflation, a depreciating local currency against the US dollar and rising spot prices for European-origin material.
Argus assessed Group I SN150 grades on a fob Black Sea basis at $520/t on 1 March, a $255/t discount to the equivalent grade on a fob European export basis. Spot prices fpor the grade on a cfr Gebze basis were assessed at $630/t, reflecting increased offers of Russian-origin product.
