ICIS holds its African conference in South Africa

Some of the lubricants professionals at the African base oils and lubes conference in South Africa.

SOURCE | ICIS

T he Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (ICIS) recently held its 9th ICIS African Base Oils and Lubricants Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, on 7-8November 2024. The event brought together major lubricants, base oils, and additives industry players and seasoned professionals, and Lubezine Magazine was one of the media partners. The conference provided a platform for networking and learning about the African lubricants market and the outlook for the future. The event attracted more than 130 delegates, representing over 21 countries, with companies such as Penthol, Kemipex, Afton, ADNOC, Engen, Unichem, Adipro, Afribase, Abrilube, Azelis, Zestcor, Lubrizol, ExxonMobil, Motiva, Chemlube, Aramco, Chevron, Shell, and Paramount in attendance. The conference brought together over 70 companies comprising the different players in the lubes industry.

The conference featured keynote sessions, where industry professionals like Siva Konar, the Market Segment Manager of Middle East & Africa (MEA) for Azelis, Steven Lumley, the Technical Manager for WearCheck Africa, John Fitton, IMCD EMEA Technical Director, Tara Ayodeji, Business Development Manager, Kline Energy Practice and Siddharth Sachdeva the Director at Siddharth Grease & Lubes India among others made presentations on different topical issues in the lubricants industry.

Africa continues to experience immense growth in lubricant demand. The presentations focused on topics capturing the current state of Africa’s lubes market in terms of volumes, market segments, and future projections for the market.

Siva Konar, the Market Segment Manager of Middle East & Africa (MEA) for Azelis, presented on Unlocking Africa’s Potential. His presentation delved deep into the growth potential for Africa’s lubes market. Demand is expected to grow by nearly 1 million tons by 2050, and it will be driven by population growth, increasing economically active population, the continued growth of multigrades, infrastructure development, air quality improvement initiatives, e.g., UN PCFV, and legislative changes such as minimum quality standards, duty remissions, and import controls.

The demand for base oils was discussed at the conference, and Rayan Baksahwain of Luburef presented on “Base Oils Market – Overview and Trends”. He highlighted that Africa has the highest growth rate in the world, with a 3.5% CAGR and a current base oil demand of approximately 2 MMT per annum. He further talked about the gradual decrease in the use of Group I base oils, which will consequently reduce the imports while at the same time, demand for Group II is growing, and so are the imports.

Michael Connolly, the Head of Refining and Base Oils Analytics at ICIS, presented on “Africa as part of the Global Landscape”. He noted that while many parts of the world are seeing a rapid decline in oil demand, Africa has growth potential but could see strong competition from players where markets are declining. Looking at the prices in the industry, the projections are that with an oversupply of products likely to be around for the next few years, we are likely to see a more cost + feedstockbased pricing mechanism rather than the very high prices of 2021-23.

Based on the sample of presentations captured in this article from the conference, Africa continues to be the next stop for companies looking to expand their footprint and grow their lubricants business due to its immense opportunities.