Brazil has its own cadre of base oil refineries, but the country is still highly dependent on imports, especially of highly refined mineral oils – a trend that should intensify, an industry expert predicted at the ICIS Pan American Base Oils & Lubricants Virtual Conference earlier this month.

The COVID-19 pandemic has birthed various challenges within the North American transportation sector, many of which affect transportation of lubricants by trucks, a panel of industry experts said during a webinar last week.

Several companies, including two from the lubricants industry, recently criticized a proposal by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to remove references to test methods from a mandate for marine vessels to use environmentally acceptable lubricants.