Forward to friend Subscribe contact OATS alt oats OATS Bulletin. Issue 73 - April 2006

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1 . OATS’ EARL6 tops 50,000 models
2 . Basestock expert poses CJ-4 alternatives
3 . Strategic conference for Asia lubes markets: Singapore April 2006
4 . ExxonMobil creates separate oils for needs of trucks and SUVs
5 . Oil-less engine heralded in China
6 . Korea’s SK appoints new CEO and expands capacity
7 . Fuchs increases sales 8.7% and profits leap 52%
8 . Co-operation pact signed on US petroleum measures
9 . GM to make six-speed automatic transmissions
10 . Citroën builds for China
11 . VW goes for 3D mapping



1. OATS’ EARL6 tops 50,000 models

The world’s most comprehensive lubes database continues to prove that it really is a truly indispensable reference tool for the lubricants industry. EARL6, the versatile source work at the heart of OATS’ global services, now includes 50,580 models with over 7500 models added in the last 12 months alone. More than 182,000 lubrication applications are now detailed in EARL6. The information, provided by 1,338 OEMs across the globe, is accurate and kept up to date according to ISO9000 procedures.
OATS continues to expand its international team of data gatherers particularly in those global regions where the lubricants market is expanding or changing, and where OEMs are producing models specifically for local markets. The company’s ongoing aim is to take every opportunity to expand its list of models and number of compartments represented. If you think you could work as a local data gatherer for OATS please email Eric Sloman, Head of the data gathering team - esloman@oats.co.uk

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2. Basestock expert poses CJ-4 alternatives

Writing in the February 2006 issue of Lubes ‘n’ Greases, Tom Glenn, president of Petroleum Trends International, is concerned at what may happen if the forthcoming heavy-duty motor oil API CJ-4 ‘does not offer a demonstrable performance upgrade over CI-4 PLUS, yet costs end-users significantly more to procure’. His conclusion is that it ‘could prove to be the most expensive category ever developed and the slowest ever to be accepted in the marketplace’. Glenn suggests a number of alternatives for the way in which lubricant manufacturers might meet potential marketing challenges, all of which he describes as being ‘high stake options’. These include a ‘wait and see’ strategy; one that dumps CI-4 completely in favour of the new rating; another that runs the earlier grading concurrently with CJ-4 over the entire product range; or a fourth, that limits CJ-4 to certain brands whilst shadowing with CI-4 and gradually altering the ratio of the two as the balance shifts in practice. Glenn illustrates the last mentioned by speculating on the significance of Caterpillar’s preference for a variation of the dual alternative in pursuing its own agenda for non-API-approved specifications. His fifth alternative is for a universal cost/performance-effective heavy-duty motor oil. He suggests that consumers might happily vote with their wallets for such a product, if underwritten by a reputable oil major, even if it did not carry the new API rating.

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3. Strategic conference for Asia lubes markets: Singapore April 2006

Here is a date for your diary: 20/21st April, Hilton Hotel, Singapore, the Asia Lubricants 2006 two-day conference, where OATS’ CEO and Chairman, Sebastian Crawshaw, will be giving a paper – Trends in lubricants specifications and implications to manufacturers and marketers in Asia. The organisers say that Asia Lubricants 2006 was planned to coincide with the region’s emergence as the world’s largest user of traditional lubricants.

The conference will give a comprehensive insight into the Asian lubes market and cover new developments in lubes specifications in various Asian countries, as well as appraising the way forward for the industry in the region. It features ‘essential briefings from industry experts and leading organisations’ on ‘the latest insights, developments and key issues’. It will also provide an excellent opportunity for networking. For more information, contact Marcy Chong by telephone on (65) 6536 8437 or e-mail at marcy.chong@abf.com.sg

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4. ExxonMobil creates separate oils for needs of trucks and SUVs

ExxonMobil has introduced new Mobil 1 Truck & SUV 5W-30 and Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5W-40 for light and heavy-duty trucks and sport utility vehicles in the USA. There, trucks and SUVs account for more than half of the vehicles sold. These products replace Mobil 1 Truck & SUV 5W-40. The company says that ‘significant growth of diesel-powered trucks and the continued popularity of gasoline-powered light trucks and SUVs as 'working' vehicles has created a need for engine-specific high-performance motor oils’. The newly formulated Mobil 1 Truck & SUV 5W-30 contains extra antioxidant, giving greater protection against the formation of deposits. ExxonMobil says that this new energy-conserving formulation meets the latest standards for gasoline engines, and the formula for the new Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5W-40 meets the latest industry standards, including CI-4 PLUS. According to the makers ‘high temperatures pose little threat, as this product maintains its viscosity and has enhanced oil film strength, helping to reduce engine scuffing and bore polishing. It also provides wear protection and reduced oil consumption with its shear stability’. ExxonMobil has also just introduced its new Mobil Delvac Extended Life Coolant/Antifreeze, said to be ‘compatible with all coolant technologies’. It can provide up to 600,000 miles of on-highway use, or six years, or 12,000 hours of off-highway use.

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5. Oil-less engine heralded in China

The Chinese News Agency recently reported that a car under the control of the Wangguan Petroleum Chemical Company of Qingdao had successfully run 5,050 kilometres without any oil in the engine. Instead, it used a compound lubricant additive, Roab nanometer grease. China is heralding this as an economic breakthrough for the country that hitherto has relied very largely on imported lubricant additives.

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6. Korea’s SK appoints new CEO and expands capacity

SK Corporation has appointed Choi Sang-Hoon as chief executive officer of SK Incheon Oil Co. Ltd – previously the Incheon Oil refinery – South Korea’s largest oil refiner. SK is said to be the world’s biggest Group III base oil producer and now claims to be fourth largest oil refiner in Asia.
It is reported that SK Corporation is to expand the capacity of its plant in Ulsan, South Korea by almost twelve per cent, to 19,700 barrels per day, this spring. The company was founded in 1962 as Korea’s first oil refiner, and currently develops and produces oil in twelve countries throughout Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

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7. Fuchs increases sales 8.7% and profits leap 52%


Fuchs Petrolub AG has issued provisional figures that show a significant increase in sales revenues and earnings during the last financial year. Sales revenues grew by 8.7 per cent to €1,192.2 million. The after-tax earnings amount to €74.2 million, against €48.7 million in 2004. This is a profit leap of 52 per cent. The latest results represent the fourth successive year in which the group has achieved a double-digit increase in earnings. The company’s earnings in 2005, before interest and tax, were €128.8 million. Given the substantial rise in base oil prices and pressures on lubricants businesses, this is an outstanding result.

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8. Co-operation pact signed on US petroleum measures

The American Petroleum Institute and the Energy Institute have signed an agreement to co-operate on standards. Called the ‘Phoenix Agreement’, its aim is to produce joint API/EI standards in all areas of petroleum measurement. The participants say that this ‘marks a major step forward in the development and harmonisation of petroleum measurement standards’. In addition to the production of new joint standards, those already developed by both organisations will be combined as they are reviewed, leading to a single set of standards for international use. These joint API/EI documents will be made available to the International Standards Organisation (ISO) for adoption, and that agency will be invited to propose areas for development and say where revision may be necessary. It is hoped that in this way, the ISO will be able to adopt quickly the joint API/EI documents as ISO standards.

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9. GM to make six-speed automatic transmissions


General Motors is to invest $500 million in its Toledo, Ohio, transmission plant to produce a new Hydra-Matic six-speed, rear-wheel-drive automatic transmission for full-size SUVs and trucks. This move will also require a 400,000-square foot expansion of the plant to take new machinery, equipment and tooling. And the investment does not stop there; GM is also to contribute an additional $100 million for contractors whose work will support the Toledo operation. Construction is scheduled to begin at the site in mid-2006, and production of the six-speed transmissions will start in 2008. GM says that they are ‘gaining market popularity because they save fuel and can help improve acceleration performance’ and ‘play a key role in GM’s commitment to build exciting, yet fuel-efficient, products that our customers desire’. GM Powertrain’s Toledo Transmission opened in 1916, has been in its present location since 1955, and currently occupies 1.8 million square feet.

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10. Citroën builds for China


By the middle of 2006, Citroën will have launched a new model, called the C-Triomphe, specifically to meet the demands of the expanding Chinese market. The company says that its three-box design is the preferred body style of car buyers in the country. The car is to be built in the city of Wuhan, some six hundred miles south of Beijing. Last year, Citroën sold over 100,000 cars in China, a thirty-four per cent increase on 2004.

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11. VW goes for 3D mapping

Volkswagen of America, Google, and graphics chipmaker nVidia are working on a three-dimensional in-car navigation map system and display that is ‘more real looking than anything that is available today’. They are also working on advanced automatic personalised content updates for VW’s vehicle navigation systems. The developers claim that their system, which will use photo-realistic, high-resolution 3D images, is more efficient and accurate at conveying information than traditional 2D mapping.

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