Base oil production in the United States dropped to 4.4 million barrels, the third straight month that the volume was below 5 million barrels, and 16% lower than in the same month of 2021. The October number, reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Dec. 30, compared to 5.2 million barrels from the same month of 2021.

Brazil produced 46,000 metric tons of base oil in November, close to flat compared to the same month of 2021. Meanwhile imported base oil volume dropped 27%, according to data released by the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels. The 46,000 tons mark was the same as in three previous months last year – April, May and September.

Canada’s Environment Ministry last month proposed an ambitious schedule of mandates for car makers to quickly increase the portion of their sales that are electric vehicles. Contending that Canadians want clean vehicles and clean air, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault proposed that plug-in hybrids and pure battery-powered models be required to account for at least 20% of sales by 2026 and 100% of new cars by 2035.