LASTWORD CONFERENCE


ICIS holds the 28th edition of the World Base Oils and Lubricants Conference


The Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (ICIS) recently held its 28th World Base Oils and Lubricants Conference in London, United Kingdom, from February 6 to 8, 2024. The event brought together major lubricants and base oils industry players and seasoned professionals and Lubezine Magazine was one of the media partners.


ExxonMobil, Aldo Govi, the CEO of Infine- um, and Ravi Chawla, the Managing Direc- tor and CEO of Gulf Oil Lubricants India, shared insights into crucial topics regard- ing the industry. The Women in Base Oils & Lubricants Get-Together also celebrated and empowered women in the industry, highlighting the importance of diversity and inclusivity. Presentations focused on topics such as base oils, sustainability, electrification, and emerging technologies like immersion cooling for data centers. The presentation by ICIS on base oils


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gave insights into Europe’s 2023 base oils market and future projections. Producers are mainly focused on manufacturing for the local market, but due to a decreased demand as a result of the current econom- ic conditions, hand-to-mouth buying is taking place, and spot buying seems to be preferred in the current demand climate. Apu Gosalia’s session on the European


Union (EU) Corporate Sustainability Re- porting Directive provided valuable guid- ance for navigating sustainability stan- dards, while Artis Brown’s session covered lubricants’ role in a transitioning world. He underscored the changes happening in the industry, such as an increased use of Group II and Group III base oils. He also noted that technological advancements and market-based solutions are some of the critical enablers that will help deliver products capable of meeting the challeng- es associated with a transitioning world. As the world moves towards electrifi- cation to achieve sustainability and lower the carbon footprint, new challenges arise for transformer oils in electric grids. Dr. Hugo Campelo, Senior Technical Advisor at Nynas AB, discussed how transformer


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he conference featured key- note sessions, where indus- try professionals like Artis Brown, the Vice President of Base stocks and Waxes from


From L-R: Amanda Hay, Deputy Managing Editor, Americas, ICIS, Valentina Serra-Holm, VP Engineered Fluids, Perstorp AB, Bhavika Sachdeva, Director, Trinity Lubes & Greases FZC, Alison Jones, Chief Strategy Officer, ICIS. SOURCE | ICIS


Presentations focused on topics such as base oils, sustainability,


electrification, and emerging technologies like immersion cooling for data centers.


oils have a new set of challenges, such as the need to be scalable because of the in- creasing number of transformers and new potential segments requiring power. An- other challenge is the need for the oils to be recyclable at the end of life, all of which the transformer oils need to solve, since the power grid continues to grow to cater to the rising electricity demand. An emerging technology for cooling data centres is immersion cooling. While its uptake and adoption is still low, Dr. Valentina Serra-Holm of Perstorp high-


lighted the critical role immersion cooling will play in the future of data centres. She underscored that of all the energy con- sumption in data centres, up to 40% of that energy is used in cooling. She stressed that using immersion cooling will be more energy-efficient than the current cooling methods, and it will be a better option for data centres looking to be more sustain- able.


With over 400 delegates from 45 coun-


tries, the conference provided a vibrant networking atmosphere, facilitating idea exchange and partnership building. Com- menting on the conference, Clinton Any- iam, the CEO of Afribase Group, said, “The ICIS conference is always the best place to network when it comes to base oils trad- ing.” Echoing those words, Mohammad El- sadek, Director of Lubricants at Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), said, “The ICIS conference is definitely the best place to network here in London.” The 29th edition of the World Base Oils


and Lubricants Conference will be in 2025, and regional events will occur throughout 2024.


. LUBEZINE MAGAZINE | MARCH 2024


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