LOCAL REPORT
Growth and change in the Middle Eastern lubricant market
Kapil Telang, Associate Director, Product Management, Lubrizol Additives IMEA
A modernising car parc, changing consumer desires and other factors are driving increasing needs for high-quality lubricants throughout the Middle Eastern market.
Within the context of the global lubricants industry, the Middle East region currently represents a fundamentally interesting convergence of factors. And it will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
The region has historically been known as one of the world’s foremost sources of crude oil production. And today, in part because of that production, major modern economies have taken root throughout countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. The result is that the Middle East is increasingly a major source of global demand for modern automobiles and high-performance lubricants, particularly as disposable incomes continue to rise.
For the global lubricants industry—and for industry players looking to seize new opportunities within the region—it’s worth exploring the factors at play, their implications, and why domestic access to high-performance additive chemistry will be increasingly critical in the years to come.
Heightened demand for high-quality lubricants For all of its prodigiousness in oil production, the Middle East does very little vehicle manufacturing of its own. Instead, the vast majority of automobiles are imported from the European and Japanese car markets. Popular brands include Mercedes, Volvo, Mack, BMW, Toyota, Honda and others.
62 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.181 JUNE 2024
These circumstances have been in conflict with engine oil choice and availability. Put simply, local standards for lubricant marketing have lagged far behind the requirements for modern, imported engines.
For example: The majority of today’s passenger car engines are turbocharged gasoline direct injection (TGDI) engines. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) the world over have utilised TGDI technology to significantly improve vehicle efficiency, as demanded by modern regulatory measures. To achieve those efficiency gains, TGDI engines tend to run hotter and at higher pressures than their traditional port fuel injected engine counterparts.
TGDI engines’ more severe operating conditions have an impact on the lubricant. Higher levels of oxidative and thermal stability are required to prevent premature breakdown of the oil while the engine runs. More importantly, TGDI engines are susceptible to a unique phenomenon known as low-speed pre-ignition (LSPI). LSPI events are random and infrequent, but can cause very high-pressure spikes, loud knocking noises and sometimes catastrophic engine damage.
The good news is that modern engine oils formulated with the right performance characteristics can help prevent LSPI. But local standards have been slow to adopt such minimum performance levels. For
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