Group I Base Oil (SN150, SN500, Bright Stock)

The solvent-refined ladder: SN150, SN500/SN600 and bright stock 150

Group I is the solvent-refined end of the base oil range. API 1509 (21st edition, Annex E, formerly Appendix E) defines it in one line: Group I base stocks contain less than 90 percent saturates and/or more than 0.03 percent sulphur, with a viscosity index of 80 or more and less than 120. The same annex fixes the test methods, ASTM D2007 or D7419 for saturates, ASTM D2270 for viscosity index, and one of D1552, D2622, D3120, D4294 or D4927 for sulphur, so a certificate of analysis that reports those three numbers by those methods places the lot in its group. Grades are named SN (solvent neutral) by viscosity, and a blender runs them as a ladder: SN150 to thin a blend down, SN500 or SN600 as the body, and bright stock 150 for viscosity no neutral can reach. Producer sheets show what to expect. Repsol's Group I sheet for its Puertollano and Cartagena refineries (November 2023) gives SN 150 at 32 cSt at 40 °C and 5.2 cSt at 100 °C, VI above 98, flash above 200 °C, pour -9 °C maximum and sulphur 0.9%; SN 500 at 98 and 11.0 cSt, VI above 95, flash above 230 °C and sulphur 0.4%; and BS 150 at 490 and 32.0 cSt, VI above 93, flash above 280 °C and sulphur 1.2%, with SN 80 to SN 300 and BS 160/170 in the same range. ExxonMobil's AP/E Core sales specification sets Core 150 at 29.0-32.0 cSt at 40 °C, VI 100 minimum, flash 210 °C minimum, pour -12 °C maximum and colour 1.5 maximum; Core 600 at 109-116 cSt, VI 95 minimum, flash 246 °C minimum and colour 4.0 maximum; and Core 2500 bright stock at 30.6-32.7 cSt at 100 °C, VI 95 minimum and flash 294 °C minimum. Tüpraş's Light Neutral specification from its İzmir refinery shows the Group I signature directly: saturates of 50-89% by mass, against the 90% floor of Group II.

Group I plants keep closing, and the ones still running are known by name. Argus reported in December 2024 that European Group I nameplate capacity had fallen 55% in a decade to about 4 million t/yr, with Eni's 600,000 t/yr Livorno unit shut in 2024; Lubes'N'Greases reported PetroChina's 417,000 t/yr Group I plant at Dalian closing by mid-2025, and in March 2023 quoted an ICIS estimate of 1.4 million t of Group I capacity shut in three years. Producers still making it include Repsol at Puertollano and Cartagena in Spain; Tüpraş at İzmir, Türkiye's only Group I unit, with SN 100, SN 150, SN 500 and bright stock (Argus, March 2021); Pertamina at Cilacap, Indonesia, at 440,000 t/yr (Argus, September 2023); Luberef on the Saudi Red Sea coast, with 175,000 t/yr of Group I at Yanbu (Lubes'N'Greases, June 2023) and a Group I plant of about 266,000 t/yr at Jeddah (F&L Asia, May 2026); ORLEN's 250,000 t/yr Group I plant at Gdańsk, Poland (Argus summary, January 2026); and Eneos at Mizushima and Kainan in Japan (Lubes'N'Greases, October 2022). For customs Group I sits with the other lubricating base oils in HS 2710.19, so trade statistics do not separate it from Group II or III. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers Group I base oil against the producing refinery's certificate of analysis, a certificate of origin naming the refinery, and SGS or Intertek inspection at load; a lot sold from a blending hub must still show where it was refined. Lots move in bulk parcel tankers, in ISO tanks (a T11 tank holds up to 26,000 litres), in flexitanks (24,000 litres in a 20-ft container, about 21 t of SN150 at Repsol's 0.875 density) or in 208-litre steel drums. Send the grade, quantity, packing, destination port and payment terms.

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Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.