Writing on the Wall
I am delighted to announce that this years Base Stock Guide wall chart is completed. It is a comprehensive guide to the nameplate capacities of virgin and rerefined mineral base oils, as well as six key types of synthetics, produced in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Yet capacity is not the whole story. The base oil market continues to evolve throughout the EMEA region.
As we have seen, API Group I capacity continues to dwindle, falling from 65 percent to less than 40 percent. This may be hastened by traditional Group I applications such as marine shifting to higher grades.
Meanwhile, Group II production is set to increase across Europe, as well as in Russia, as new plants come on stream in early 2019. More stocks are also arriving onto the market from the Middle East. And Africas consumption of high-performance base oils is growing but the market there is still fragmented and price driven.
Group III demand will also grow steadily for passenger car motor oils due to stricter fuel economy and emission standards, but this will be offset by a slight decline in demand for conventional PCMOs due to the increased number of electric vehicles on the road.
There is much to consider for the global industry, not just in the EMEA region.
The data was collected this year by our in-house team in close cooperation with Pathmaster Marketing Ltd. of Woking, United Kingdom. In addition to Pathmaster, we would like to thank all the other expert sources and companies that shared information for this project. LNG Publishing Company also publishes global base stock guides.
For more information and to purchase your own copy, visit www.LubesnGreases.com.
– Howard Briskin
HBriskin@LubesnGreases.com