India Shifting Toward Group II Base Stocks Edit article Published on April 12, 2016

India Shifting Toward Group II

BY K. VENKATESHWAR RAO • APRIL 12, 2016

MUMBAI – India’s lubricant market may be lagging developed markets in terms of the quality of finished products and the base stocks that it uses, but it has begun a significant shift toward API Group II stocks, an official from Kline & Co. consultants told an industry meeting here last week.

Project Manager Anuj Kumar Singh told the ICIS Indian Base Oils & Lubricants Conference that India’s shift will be driven by the same forces that affected Europe, North America and Japan – tighter air emissions regulations, fuel economy mandates and lube performance demands by automakers – along with attractive pricing for Group II.

“This will create greater demand for Group II and other high quality base stocks and limit the market for Group I,” Kumar said.

India is the world’s third-largest lubricant using country, having consumed 2.3 million metric tons in 2015, Kline estimates. That volume, which includes process oils, represented an increase of less than 1 percent from the previous year.

http://www.lubesngreases.com/lubereport-asia/3_15/basestocks/-10279-1.html