Latin America is an increasingly important market for heavy duty diesel engine oil marketers–and Brazil, the region’s most powerful economy, is continuing its drive toward higher performing lubricants.
A combination of factors affecting the Brazilian heavy duty diesel market is driving the shift.
In 2014, the National Agency of Petroleum (ANP) published a resolution that established a new minimum performance standard for heavy duty engine oils manufactured, imported and/or sold in Brazil.
It all means that more advanced lubricant formulation is no longer an option–it’s a requirement.
Thus, as of January 2015, the minimum performance category of heavy duty diesel engine oil throughout Brazil is API CG-4, and by 2017 this will increase to a minimum level of API CH-4. Earlier API categories of API CF-4 and before are obsolete, reinforcing the country’s commitment to driving to higher performance lubricants.
Meanwhile, fuel quality variability and base oil constraints impose increased complexity on the marketplace–high sulfur levels in fuel and increased bio-diesel requirements in Brazil pose challenges to keep hardware running as designed.
Engine hardware is equally evolving to meet rapidly changing emissions regulations. The growth in the number of advanced emissions vehicles across Brazil having Euro IV, Euro V and Euro VI engines, is resulting in the use of API CI-4 and API CJ-4 performance category lubricants; each offering enhanced benefits over their predecessors. With the forthcoming API CK-4 and API FA-4 categories (currently known as PC-11A and PC-11B) due late 2016, these will offer even more opportunities for vehicle owners to realize the benefits of moving to even higher performance solutions over current API CJ-4 lubricants.
So the demand for lubricants that meet these changing needs and for the additives that make high performance possible is rising in Brazil and wider throughout South America, mirroring trends across the globe. And it’s not stopping.
Higher performance lubricants aren’t just about keeping up with government regulation and OEM requirements–they can mean bottom-line benefits for all stakeholders. From greater engine wear protection, enhanced durability and overall greater efficiency, using higher performing lubricants helps maximize vehicle operation and minimize maintenance costs.
The complexity of the market landscape, changing emissions regulations, and the necessary adherence to more advanced API performance categories as well as OEM approvals, mean oil marketers in Brazil and throughout Latin America have an opportunity to capitalize upon these changing needs.
Moving to higher performance lubricants, enabled by advanced additive chemistry, is a necessary and valuable step. The benefits of higher performing lubricants extend across the region–and around the world.
