Global base oil tendencies and the role of MOL's base stocks in the region

This paper would like to give answers on three basic questions, like how the global base oil trend was modified including driving forces in the last decade, what is the current status and what role will play MOL’s base oils in the region in the future and the coincidence of MOL’s base oil production technology development with the global one.

However the lubricant consumption was equal worldwide in 2007 and in 1997, major differences were observed geographically. Due to the higher quality lubricant’s need, the additive treat rate is increasing as well. There are two scenarios for the future needs: +0.5 and +1.5%. In terms of quality trend and competitor’s structure the change of the lubricant industry is going on.
The driving forces for the production of base stocks are changing dramatically, in the past it was the qualitative and quantitative need for lubricants, but today there are other – „non – lubricants” related factors, namely the increased fuel, especially the diesel needs is the decisive one. On the other hand, there is a new finding, the so called „technology paradox”, where the cost of the higher quality base stocks are less, than the conventional ones.
The ongoing development of MOL’s base stocks corresponds to the global ones, i.e. Group II and III types are „in the tube”. Technological variances are under investigation in order to find the optimum compromise between fuel and „lubricant” production with the optimal combination of the existing solvent extraction and the hydrotreatment based technologies.
The hydrockracking technology would give a synergy between the high quality (low sulphur content and better ignition ability) fuel strategy and base oils for modern lubricants. This development will fit into the regional needs, i.e. towards longer drain intervals with lower evaporation loss.

Enikő Szeitl, István Kátai, Péter Heiman