China Petroleum Society gave a speech in the international convention on base oil and lubricants held in London on February 19, introducing the lubricant industry situation, base oil supply and market price in China in 2009.
Under the global depression in 2009, the global demand of the lubricant industry in China was increased by 6% compared to that in 2008, reaching 6 million tons. It is expected by China Petroleum Society that the lubricant consumption will approach 8 million tons in 2015 and that the annual import demand of the base oil will break through 2 million tons to meet domestic growth demand for oils.
China Petroleum Society expected in 2008 that the domestic lubricant consumption in China would be increased by 6.1% in 2009, reaching more than 6 million tons compared with about 5.7 million tons in 2008. On the contrary, according to the statistical reports of Flowserve, the global lubricant consumption was decreased by 12-13% in 2009. The growth in China's lubricant consumption is mainly from high growth in the Chinese automobile market in 2009 and the growth in China's automobile oil will be expected to exceed 12% this year.
China's lubricant market share is relatively stable. PetroChina accounts for about 26% in the market, still occupying the leading position; Sinopec accounts for 21% share in the market and about 30% in the multinational lubricant oil brand companies in China; the domestic private lubricant accounts for 17%, the reclaimed oil about 4% and the imported lubricant is generally maintained at 2% share.