Machinery Lubrication India Jan Feb 14 10 | Page 37

MLI REPORT DHIREN SHAH Base Oil Report Crude Oil imports of India are targeted around 9.5 million tonnes from Iran during 2014-15. India is targeting 11 million tonnes of crude oil import this fiscal despite buying only 5.82 million tonnes of crude oil from the Islamic nation during the first eight months of current fiscal. India, which has been since last year cutting imports from Iran after US and European nations' sanctions made shipments and payments difficult, imported 13.14 million tonnes of crude oil from Iran in 2012-13, down from 18.11 million tonnes in the previous year. In November last year, the US and other western powers agreed to ease sanctions against Iran that would lift ban on insuring tankers carrying Iranian crude as well as open payment channels. As per the reports, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd will import 4 million tons of crude from Iran this fiscal while Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has contracted 1.2 million tonnes. Private sector Essar Oil is likely to import 4 million tonnes. In 2010-11, India had imported 18.50 million tonnes of crude oil from the Persian Gulf state. India, which currently importing crude from over 30 countries, has not publicly said it was aiming to cut back oil imports from Iran but has unofficially asked its top importers to prune shipments from Tehran. Iran, which was India's second biggest supplier of crude oil after Saudi Arabia in 2010-11, slipped four places to become its seventh-largest crude oil supplier in 2012-13. Indian base oil market remains steady with inventories at optimum levels with surplus of imported grades. During the period July to November 2013, approximately 894583 MT of base oils with an average of 178917 per month of all the grades have been procured at Indian Ports. Major imports are from Korea, Singapore, USA, UAE, Iran, Taiwan, France, UK, Netherlands, Japan, Italy, Belgium, etc. Indian State Oil PSU’s IOC/HPCL/ BPCL. prices for SN – 70/N – 70/N-65/ SN – 150/N -150/N – 150 hiked by Rs 0.90 per liter on its basic prices, While SN - 500/N - 500/MakBase - 500 were marked down by Rs 1.00 per liter. Bright stock prices were also down by Rs 2.00 per Liter, effective January 01, 2014 Hefty Discounts are offered by refiners which are in the range of Rs. 12.00 – 19.00 per liter for buyers who commit to lift above 1500 MT. Group I Base Oil prices for neutrals SN -150/500 (Russian and Iranian origin) Month wise Import Of Base Oil in India baseoilreport.com 250000 225955 202563 200000 191856 193980 180203 167862 161937 164349 139099 138109 143574 150000 143582 154622 100000 50000 0 Nov-12 Dec-12 Jan-13 Feb-13 Mar-13 Apr-13 May-13 Jun-13 Jul-13 Aug-13 Sep-13 Oct-13 Nov-13 www.machinerylubricationindia.com | January-February 2014 | 35