Asian Lubricating Oil Market

From MoxyWiki

Overview

Base oil demand, capacity and production figures for 2008 for the Asian region are quoted here from Petronas base oil sales and marketing manager, Abu Hanzalah Abu Bakar^[1]

	mTpa
	% World Total Capacity	Base oil capacity/prod'n in Asia (1)					Base oil demand in Asia
		Base oil total	Group I	Group II	Group III		Base oil total	Group I	Group II	Group III
Southeast Asia (production)(2)	8		2.7	0.36	0.65
India (capacity)	3	1.32
Northeast Asia (3)
South Korea (production)			0.13	1.64	1.46
Japan (capacity)		2.2
China (capacity)		4.7
Asia Total (capacity) 2008	32						12.76	10.46
Asia Total demand forecast 2012							13.9	10.42	2.91	0.6

1. Asia defined here as the region east of Pakistan

2. Southeast Asia is Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore

3. Northeast Asia is South Korea, Japan and China

Asia Regional Drivers

Key regional drivers^[1] for the lubricating oil market in Asia include:

1. Asia's move towards fuel economy
2. Abu Bakar said, is “the diesel factor, the intimate relationship between diesel pricing and Group III base oil availability” from refineries that use hydrocracker bottoms as feedstock to produce Group III.
3. The rise of the Straits of Melaka as the new, high quality base oil center, joining South Korea and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico as the world’s major high quality merchant supply sources. It is significant that the Straits of Melaka are safe from typhoons.
4. The refineries, like Petronas, that are not dependent on fuel hydrocracker bottoms can assure their customers of consistent quantities and quality^[1]

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Asia: Demand for Group II/III grows