Lubricants in the study refer to viscous fluid (finished product) used in various industrial applications for proper functioning of machineries and its parts. The lubricants market is growing at a considerable rate due to growing automotive industry, increased consumer awareness about lubricants and government regulations regarding lubricants. Lubricants are used in vehicles to reduce friction, which leads to longer lifespan and reduced wear and tear of the vehicles. The increased adoption of lubricants in automotive industry is mainly due to prices of convention fuels, increasing demand for heavy duty vehicles and light passenger vehicles, and increase in average lifespan of the vehicles. As saving the conventional resources, cutting emission and energy became central environmental matters, the lubricants are progressively attracting more consumer awareness.
The increasing adoption of lubricants by the consumers can been seen globally. The harmful environmental effects are getting reduced, because the consumers have started adopting bio-lubricants, which is resulting in the growth of the global lubricants market. In the BRIC countries, rapid growth in energy demand is expected to continue during the forecast period, thus resulting in high growth of the lubricants market in these countries. However, with the arrival of hybrid-electric vehicle, the lubricants market is affected to some extent. The life cycle cost of hybrid-electric vehicles, including maintenance and fuel cost, and cost of purchase, is much less than that of conventional vehicles.
As the need for enhancing fuel efficiency in vehicles is increasing, the traditional materials are getting replaced by synthetic lubricants. The harmful environmental effects are being reduced, because the consumers have started adopting bio-lubricants. Bio lubricants are materials that are based on renewable and biodegradable base reserves, such as fatty acids reaction with synthetic alcohols for producing esters. Bio preferred program, created by Farm Security and Rural Investment Act (FSRIA), increased the use and procurement of bio based products by creating labeling program to enable the marketing of bio based products and procurement preference program for federal agencies and their contractors.
Some of the key companies operating in the lubricants market include Chevron Corporation, BP plc, Exxon Mobil Corporation, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd., Fuchs Petrolub SE, PetroChina Co. Ltd., LUKOIL Oil Company, TOTAL S.A and Royal Dutch Shell plc.