Adrian Brown is away. His column will reappear in the Dec. 10 edition of Lube Report EMEA.

Global electric vehicle sales have grown at high double-digit rates for the past several years, leading to forecasts of EVs becoming large portions of the worldwide car parc. Unexpected changes in technology and politics could speed up or slow the trend, hampering efforts to predict when such advances will occur, an industry insider said.

Wider use of synthetic engine oils and a shift to electric vehicles could reduce the threat of environmental contamination from waste oil in the Middle East, a region historically dominated by mineral-based lubricants.

Master Fluid Solutions opened a metalworking fluids production facility outside of Istanbul in Tulza, mainly serving the aerospace and defense industries, the company announced last month.