Mineral base oil capacity in Europe, the Middle East and Africa now totals 16.8 million tons per year. A 5 percent decline in API Group I capacity dragged total capacity down from last years total of 17.5 million t/y.
Just two years ago, Group I accounted for 91 percent of the regions total capacity. Its now 81 percent. Group II and Group III capacity together now account for 16 percent of the regions capacity, up from just 6 percent in 2011. Naphthenic base stocks make up the remaining 3 percent, a share that is unchanged over the past couple of years.
Most significant are the eye-popping capacities scheduled to stream in the next two years: a total of 3.34 million t/y of new Group II and III capacity will come online in Europe and the Middle East from now through 2015.
Existing and announced capacities and much more are provided on the 2013 EMEA Base Stock Guide, our annual snapshot of the regions base stock capacities, enclosed with this issue for print-edition subscribers.
This years Guide includes more than 70 mineral base oil refiners and rerefiners, identifying the companies, their locations and base oil capacities. In addition, it lists more than 60 plants that manufacture nonconventional base stocks (polyalphaolefins, esters, polyisobutenes, polyalkylene glycols, phosphate esters and silicones), identifying the plants owners, locations and estimated capacities where relevant.
Just as the base oil product mix has shifted in the past two years, so have regional shares of the market. Two years ago, Western Europe held 48 percent of the regions capacity; today its just 43 percent. Central and Eastern Europes share has dropped from 32 percent in 2011 to 27 percent today. The Middle East has become a base oil powerhouse over the past two years; its base oil capacity spiked to 24 percent of the regions total. Africa contributes the remaining 6 percent.
Senior editor Michele Persaud and her collaborators at Pathmaster Marketing Ltd. in the United Kingdom and on staff at LNG join me in extending our thanks to the many industry experts who assisted by providing information for the 2013 Base Stock Guides.
For more information or to purchase copies of the 2013 EMEA Guide, or its sister Global Guides, please visit www.LNGpublishing.com/ BaseStockGuide/index.cfm.
– Nancy J. DeMarco
nancy@LNGpublishing.com