This work described the design of an efficient oleic-acid based viscosity control additive for lubricating oils as potential alternative to petroleum poly(alkyl)methacrylates (PAMAs) additives. Hence, Poly(2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl oleate) (PMAEO) was synthesized by free radical homopolymerization to afford a comb-like polymer structure similar to common PAMAs. Then, in order to evaluate its efficiency as viscosity control additive, the resulting polymer was mixed at several concentrations from 1%wt to 10%wt with different oil compositions, including a mineral paraffinic oil (MPO) and an organic triglyceride oil (OTO). For all polymer-solution blends, relative viscosities (RV) measurements showed that addition of PMAEO in MPO had a better contribution on oil viscosity at 100 degrees C than at 20 degrees C (RV=1.16 at 40 degrees C while RV=1.25 for 3%wt of PMAEO in MPO). These results were attributed to the coil expansion of polymer chains with increasing temperature. Additionally, rheological studies showed that addition of 3%wt of PMAEO in MPO improved the MPO cold flow properties at -30 degrees C by decreasing the required yield stress to put the oil in motion from 310 mPa to 42 mPa. These results are in total accordance with the common viscosimetric properties of PAMAs-based viscosity control additives at low and high temperature in mineral oils. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:E164-E170, 2019. (c) 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers