Globally, green shoots are appearing in some base oil markets as demand starts to rebuild after some eight months of COVID-19. The original areas affected appear to be coming out of the dark, albeit slowly – areas such as China South Korea and other Asian nations.
However other regions such as Australasia, Europe, the United States and South America are still battling high numbers of new cases that hamper a return to some semblance of normality.
The “new normal” is here to stay according to reliable sources, suggesting that it may be some years before the base oil scene in Europe, the Middle East and Africa returns to anything resembling pre-pandemic times. As part of the energy industry, base oils have been badly affected by the fall in demand for industrial and consumer goods, since manufacturing in all instances is heavily reliant on lubricants and the various types base stocks used to make them.