Lubes em Foco Magazine – issue 92
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The 14th Meet the Market International Conference
The 14th Meet the Market International Conference – South America, held by Editora Onze, was a truly significant event for the South American lubricants market, as it brought together, on July 2 and 3, 2024, around 500 people from 13 countries, representing 160 companies who attended 20 lectures by leading experts in various areas directly linked to the lubricants segment. All lectures had simultaneous English-Portuguese translation and the main novelty was the event’s location, which, due to the need for a larger space, was moved to the Windsor Barra Hotel, in Barra da Tijuca – Rio de Janeiro.
In addition to the 20 sponsors who attended with their valuable contributions to holding the Meeting, 17 companies were present in the exhibition area, where coffee breaks and a cocktail were served at the end of the first day, enabling a great networking activity for all participants. Lunches on both days of the event were served in a special hall exclusively for participants of the Conference, with a special buffet spread, catering to all tastes. Still, regarding new developments, Editora Onze made it possible for interested parties to schedule meetings through the event website, where they could make contacts and reserve a meeting room. Several foreign companies highly praised this initiative, as it greatly increased the prospects for business development.
The traditional opening lecture held by the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro – FIRJAN, once again brought the expert view of its Chief Economist, Jonathan Goulart, with economic scenarios and perspectives for Brazil and the global economy. Jonathas recalled important points for attention and monitoring, such as the variation in the interest rate in the United States; the growth of the Chinese economy; the relationship between the labor market and household consumption with inflationary pressure; the variation and trend of the interest rate in Brazil; the need for measures to contain Brazilian government spending; the sustainability of public debt and the relationship between the Government and the Brazilian Central Bank. According to the economist, these are not comfortable times and paying close attention to the directions of these parameters is essential for better business management.
The Brazilian lubricants market
An optimistic outlook for the Brazilian lubricants market was presented by the director of Editora Onze and editor of Lubes em Foco magazine, Pedro Nelson Belmiro, who showed a growing Brazilian market, reaching very close to 1.5 million cubic meters in 2023, an increase of 6.9% compared to 2022, in line with the also significant growth of liquid fuels and the country’s automotive industry. Belmiro showed a positive market performance in the first 5 months of 2024 but pointed out a growth outlook that was not very high for the second half of the year, but with good expectations of a high annual closing.
The editor also emphasized the large volume of imports of base oils that made Brazil spend around US$851 million in 2023, and represented 47% of Brazilian needs, continuing at a fast pace in 2024, with the United States leading oil shipments to the country, with more than 76% of the imported volume. The Superintendent of Distribution and Logistics of the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels – ANP, Diogo Valério, made a presentation reminding the changes in the new table to be used by the Product Movement Information System – SIMP, which will come into effect in October of this year. “As of the submission of the SIMP-ANP of October 2024, to be carried out in November 2024, the regulated agents, mainly producers, foreign trade agents, re-refiners, and collectors, will already report their operations with the new codes”, recalled Diogo. He also mentioned that the ANP has been stepping up inspections in the lubricants sector, especially concerning production outsourcing, resulting in the issuance of 65 infraction notices up until April 2024. Up until June 10 of this year alone, more than 122 thousand liters of lubricants were seized, 98 thousand of which were finished oil and 24 thousand of which were used or contaminated oil (OLUC) in 75 establishments, with 5 of them being closed.
Following the line of combating illegality in the lubricants industry in Brazil, Carlo Faccio, Executive Director of the Legal Fuel Institute, presented alarming data regarding tax and operational fraud, as well as worrying issues with the increase in cargo theft. However, he also showed the intense work of the private sector that is being set up together with public and inspection agents, with the construction of a routine for updating and monitoring lubricant data and a joint agenda of approach and mobilization, to combat illegality and moralization of the market.
This year’s major producer was addressed by Rogério Ludorf, CEO of Petronas Lubrificantes, who gave attendees a broad view of trends in the automotive industry, with the evolution of electric and hybrid cars, addressing their impacts on the lubricants industry. Rogério reiterated the support of major lubricants companies for initiatives to combat illegality and improve the quality of products on the market.
Energy Transition in the spotlight
In line with the main theme of the event, the energy transition in Brazil and its impact on the lubricants industry, a panel was set up with lectures on the three main aspects of this paradigm shift that is already underway around the world. In this way, the views of the Oil Industry, the Automotive Industry, and Scientific Research were brought together. The Distribution Manager of the Brazilian Institute of Oil, Gas, and Biofuels – IBP, Ana Mandelli, warned that electrification is not yet a reality for all countries and that looking at infrastructure is fundamental in this process. She reinforced the idea that hybrids are gaining prominence mainly in Brazil and that a fair energy transition must take into account access to energy and mobility, as well as the social and environmental conditions of each country.
The technical Director of the National Association of Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers – ANFAVEA, Henry Joseph, presented the great effort that the automotive industry has made to reduce its vehicle emissions, showing that currently, only 13% of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil come from the transportation sector, with only 11.8% being produced by the road sector. Henry also recalled that the technological routes for new vehicles, aiming at reducing emissions, are influenced by several forces, such as: Government regulation and incentives, the focus of investors and customers on ESG, technological feasibility and industry development, availability of production and distribution infrastructure and the total cost of vehicle ownership.
Brazilian scientific research in the area of energy transition has significant support from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, through the CENERGIA Laboratory linked to the COPPE Research Center, with studies supported by the European Union and the world’s leading research centers in the area of energy modeling. Its coordinator, Professor Alexandre Szklo, brought to the XIV conference the latest news on models and scenarios carried out in research on Energy Transition in Brazil. The professor spoke about the various scenarios, also emphasizing the importance of stopping deforestation and that from a refining point of view, the use of HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) in the production of diesel oil can mean a gain in quality with reduced costs and process yield.
Transition to electric vehicles slows down
According to the talk by engineer Chris Castanien, who works as Chevron Base Oil’s global liaison with the automotive industry, the demand for electric vehicles is not delivering the results initially expected by the industry, causing changes in the choices of manufacturers (OEMs). He presented data from the International Energy Agency that show the need for growth of around 27% per year until 2035, in order to achieve the stipulated goal of zero emissions by 2050, and what was seen in 2023 was that, right after the withdrawal of subsidies in Europe, electric vehicle sales plummeted, even falling below the previous year’s price in some months.
According to Chris, buying and owning an electric vehicle is more expensive in many countries than having an internal combustion vehicle, and users still feel insecure about recharging issues. These facts have caused manufacturers to backtrack on their plans to produce electric vehicles, turning their attention to hybrids. On the other hand, the development of new oil specifications continues to be presented to the market by entities such as ILSAC (Ford, Stellantis, Chrysler, GM, and JAMA), ACEA, and the International Fluids Committee (IFC). “New technologies will emerge, problems will be solved and we will still have many millions of combustion engines in the future. With this, new products will be launched, making lubricating oils continue to play a critical role for decades to come”, concludes Castanien.
As the United States is the largest exporter of base oils to Brazil, understanding the dynamics of the American base oil market and its impact on exports to Brazil becomes of great importance for the Brazilian market and was the subject of the lecture by Amanda Hay, Deputy Managing Editor for the Americas at I.C.I.S. It showed that price trends have been downward, due to the large reduction in domestic demand in the United States, which reached historic lows in 2023 and continued to fall in the first quarter of 2024, when export margins fell below hydrocracker margins. A significant increase in demand in the American market is not expected, which could maintain the large availability of exports.
A special moment of tribute at the Meeting with the Market
At the end of the presentations on the first day of the event, there was a special moment to pay tribute to Mrs. Maria da Conceição França, who is in the process of retiring from the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels – ANP, and who played a very important role in the development of the Brazilian lubricants market during a period of transition and implementation of a new regulatory framework for the sector.
Tribute to Conceição França
A steel plaque was presented by Lubes em Foco magazine, representing the main entities in the segment, such as IBP, Simepetro, Sindirrefino, Sindilub and Ambioluc, in gratitude for the excellent services provided by the ANP employee. Representatives of these entities took the stage to pay tribute.
A welcome cocktail was offered by Editora Onze to all those present in the exhibition area, which provided greater integration among all who were able to expand their network of contacts and business.
A day with high technology
The second day of the 14th Meet the Market International Conference – South America was marked by the dissemination of technical knowledge and new technologies used in special lubricants. Nine experts from various areas of large national and international companies brought important information about the technological developments that have been taking place in the world of lubricants. The main topics covered were:
- Sustainable Change: The Role of PAGs in the Decarbonization of the Lubricant chain, with a presentation by Eduardo Lima, Associate Consultant in R&D at DOW QUÍMICA BRASIL;
- New generation of PAOs contributing to energy efficiency, with a presentation by Bruno Marcolino, Chemical Specialties Engineer at PROMAX LUBRIFICANTES;
- Polymeric additives for reducing phosphorus in Metalworking Fluid formulations, with a presentation by Lucas Teruel Luz, Researcher specializing in technical support at SYENSQO;
- A Market Outlook for Heavy Base Oils, presented by Colby Coggans, Technical Market Engineer for Base Oils at ERGON;
- El mercado chino de lubricantes para motocicletas y el desarrollo de aceites para motores, con una presentación de Tim Tao Yida, Gerente de Servicios Técnicos de RICHFUL XINXIANG;
- Unlocking Profitability and Sustainability with High Performance Thermosetting Fluids, presented by Edson Fonseca, Driveline Product Manager for Latin America at LUBRIZOL;
ILSAC GF-7: Challenges of a new specification, with a presentation by Jorge Manes, Industry Liaison Advisor at INFINEUM; - Lubricant technology for use with Biogas as a sustainable solution, with a presentation by Luiz Fernando Paquieli, specialist engineer for the industrial additives line at CHEVRON ORONITE;
- Hybrid electric vehicles: Challenges for engine lubrication, with a presentation by Gregório Garrido, Marketing Manager for Latin America at AFTON CHEMICAL.
Prize draw
To close the 14th International Market Meeting – South America, Editora Onze’s director, Gustavo Zamboni, and his assistant Shirley Barbosa, held the traditional prize draw, in which the winners took home a new generation I-Pad, an Echo Dot Virtual Assistant and a JBL Charge Essential 2 speaker with Bluetooth. The winners of the draw were: Heverton Pierre from Iconic, Antonio Marcos Rego from Petronas and Flavia Silva from Univar Solutions.
The next lubricants event in 2025 has a set date,
The dates for the 15th International Market Meeting – South America have already been reserved for July 1 and 2, 2025, at the same Windsor Barra hotel in Rio de Janeiro, and some reservations for the exhibition area have already been made.
The Editora Onze team promises to make an ever-increasing effort to continue bringing its audience and all those interested in the world of lubricants to the table and to bring next year a lubricants event with even greater content and networking environment.
