Industry observers believe the Covid-19 pandemic could reduce lubricant demand at least as much as the Great Recession of 2008 did, though they expect the global crisis to affect some product categories more than others.

The American Chemistry Council on Monday invoked an emergency protocol meant to give companies flexibility to cope with unavailability of automotive lubricant additives resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

While North America’s petroleum wax supply has declined due to rationalization of API Group I base oil plants, the region accounts for more than 80 percent of alpha olefin wax, much of which goes to production of polyvinyl chloride, an industry analyst said.