Royal Dutch Shell and Qatar Petroleum have initiated a world-scale integrated gas-to-liquids (GTL) project in Qatar. Called ‘Pearl GTL’, the programme is being carried out under a development and product-sharing agreement, in which Shell provides all of the project funding. The aim is to develop offshore natural gas resources in Qatar’s North Field, transport the product, and process the gas to extract natural gas liquids and ethane. The remaining gas will be converted into clean liquid hydrocarbon products in Ras Laffan Industrial City, in what will be the world’s largest integrated GTL complex. The plant is to be built in two stages; the first to be completed by 2010, and the second within a year of that. The complex will produce a range of clean liquid products and fuels, including high-quality lubricant base oils at an anticipated operational figure approaching 30,000 barrels a day.
2. Petrobras leads in Mercosur countries and expands in Sāo Paulo Petrobras recently announced that in late 2005 it ‘consolidated its leadership position’ with an 18% market share for its Lubrax lubricant brand in the combined Southern Common Market in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. According to a survey by the Agência Virtual Consultancy, the Brazilian government-controlled oil giant, whose headquarters are in Rio de Janeiro, was 5.5% ahead of the runner-up in the same region. Petrobras says that, of the world’s total lubricants demand, about 8% by volume is required by Latin America, and half of this goes into Mercosur countries. The Lubrax line of lubricants, now more than 120 different products, has been available for thirty-six years; they are produced in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Columbia, and are also marketed in Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile. The company has recently produced an investment plan for 2007-11 in which it proposes to increase its national oil processing capacity and modernise its refining park. It has allocated $14.2 billion for its refining programme. In the state of São Paulo, $1.3 billion is to be spent on the Paulinia refinery, $2.0 billion in the Henrique Lage refinery, $294 million in the Capuava refinery, and $782 million in the Presidente Bernades-Cubatão refinery.
3. EARL6 Survey Master upgraded for industrial plant surveys The latest version of OATS’ Survey Master has a powerful new layout that has been specially designed for industrial surveys, enabling users to specify lubrication regimes in far more detail. The preparation of business-winning surveys is now also both quicker and easier using this new tool. Users can now describe where the machine is located within the customer’s premises in addition to giving an asset number in the Survey Master output. Detailed information such as capacities/shots, number of lube points, method of lubrication, service frequency, change frequency, and general remarks, can now all be included for each application. OATS’ Survey Master is an important tool that lets technical and sales staff quickly and accurately catalogue the equipment and associated lubrication points in a customer facility – with fully branded grade listings. Survey Master will then output a rationalised, professional report that can even be e-mailed. Survey Master is a powerful tool that has been proven to help users consolidate relationships with existing customers and win new business. Download the Survey Master brochure
4. Chevron sells Bulgarian Prista shareholding Chevron Global Lubricants has sold its 25% shareholding in Bulgaria’s Prista Oil to Marsdale International LLC. The Bulgarian oil company was established in 1993 by the brothers Atanas and Plamen Bobokov, and lubricants manufacture began two years later. Over the next five years, the company extended its blending activities and also diversified; today Prista Oil AD Bulgaria claims to have ‘one of the most modern and efficient blending plants in Europe’, with a total capacity of 100,000 tons per year. Its main export markets are Romania, Serbia & Montenegro, Macedonia, Hungary, Slovakia, Greece, Ukraine and Turkey. The stake in the recently sold business was originally acquired by Texaco Global Products LLC in 2000, and Prista began to make Texaco-branded products the following year. It has continued to do so since the ChevronTexaco merger in 2001, as well as operating as the American company’s authorised distributor in Bulgaria. Meanwhile, Prista opened a new blending plant in 2003 as part of its investment in motor and industrial oils for Turkey and, in 2004, opened a terminal on the Black Sea for the storage and transportation of base oils. As part of the latest sale, Chevron Global Lubricants and Prista Oil have reached a supply agreement, under which Prista Oil will continue to market and distribute Texaco-branded lubricants, greases and coolant products in Bulgaria.
Texaco Greek Lubricants Company S.A. has agreed to sell the fuel terminal and lubricants blending plant at Skaramanga, near Athens in Greece to Melco Petroleum S.A. Texaco GLC is an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chevron Corporation; Melco is an affiliate of Aegean Oil S.A. The terms of the agreement are yet to be finalised, following consultation with the Greek Works Council. Chevron has said that the sale is in line with its decision to ‘consolidate its network of blending plants around the globe’; the company will continue with its lubricants, aviation, and fuel & marine marketing operations in Greece.
Sri Lanka recently invited new companies to invest in its lubricants business, in a market that is said to be worth about $60 million, and which is currently shared by six players. The dominant organisation is Caltex Lanka Lubricants – a unit of ChevronTexaco – which has a seventy per cent share of the market. The Lanka Indian Oil Corporation, which entered the market in 2003, has a twenty-two per cent share, and the rest is divided between ExxonMobil, Valvoline, Shell and BPCastrol. Sri Lanka wants investment in a new lubricant blending facility there, alongside Caltex. It has also doubled its licence fee for lubricant sellers. There is no doubt that the potential need for lubricants is increasing in the region; Caltex achieved a sixteen per cent rise in first half profits for 2006, ‘largely due to volume growth in local and export markets’. The company reported that exports to the Maldives and Bangladesh were also strong. It also ships lubricants to Réunion and Mauritius, and marine lubricants to India.
OATS has published a European Oil Summary table (see sample entry above), following a request from a client for information about oil change intervals as recommended by European truck manufacturers. The document shows oil change intervals relative to various conditions for each OEM. Dr. Martin Hayler, OEM Liaison at OATS, explains: 'European regulations for vehicle emissions have had an increasing impact on the type of oil recommended for truck engines, and the associated oil change interval. The first stages, Euro1and Euro2, introduced emissions levels for gases and particulates which were relatively easy to meet, with only fairly minor changes to engines and lubricants. With the introduction of Euro3, more significant changes in engine design and in lubricant technology were needed.' The full chart can be downloaded at European Truck Oil Change Interval Summary 'Euro4, which is effectively being applied to all new trucks from October 2006, requires major changes, and manufacturers have developed two alternative routes to meet the emissions levels. These are EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation, in which part of the exhaust gas is recycled through the engine) and SCR (Selective Catalyst Reduction, in which an exhaust catalyst is used). Manufacturers have used one or both of these routes, often in conjunction with DPF (a Diesel Particulate Filter in the exhaust system). EGR, SCR and DPF each have specific influences on the lubricant used. For example, DPF requires an oil with low SAPS (low levels of sulphur, ash and phosphorus) to minimise detrimental effects to the filter. Manufacturers are already looking ahead to Euro5, which will place even more severe demands on the engine and lubricant.
'The table attempts to summarise this rapidly changing scene. The oils recommended by manufacturers may be for specific engines, as well as for specific Euro emissions levels. The oil change interval can vary widely, depending on factors such as oil quality level, engine type, severity of service, fuel sulphur, fuel consumption, oil filter type and use of DPF. We advise that this information is treated only as a guide, as recommendations are changing all the time.' Please contact Dr. Hayler at mhayler@oats.co.uk for more information.
Total has launched Elf lubricants in Uganda, at a celebration at Kati Kati in Kampala. Total’s director-general, Christophe Jaquet, cited Elf’s history of success ‘backed by the gruelling performance of Formula One racing’. He said that the lubricants were used in fifteen World Rally Championship wins, and one hundred and thirty-six Grand Prix wins in partnership with the Renault Formula One team. His aim for Elf lubricants in Uganda was, he said, ‘to achieve a market position associated with a strong brand’.
SK Corporation, Korea’s first oil refiner when it was established in 1962, is to install ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company’s catalyst and process technologies in the expansion of its Ulsan lubes plant in South Korea. SK is the market leader in Group III lubes production, the largest refiner in Korea, and Asia’s fourth-largest by capacity. The ExxonMobil system ‘replaces existing technologies for the production of all grades of basestocks’. The contract is part of the company’s aim to boost the overall capacity of Group II and Group III, and improve yields at the plant by more than ten per cent.
Hercules Incorporated is to expand its synthetic lubricants capacity at Louisiana in Missouri, following an agreed extension of its tie-up with Uniqema. Hercules, founded in 1912, ‘manufactures and markets chemical specialties globally’ and it achieved sales of $2.1 billion in 2005. Lubricants are part of the company’s expanding business, under the control of the Paper Technologies and Ventures Group – one of its two major operating segments. Uniqema was launched in 1999, although it is a longstanding organisation that has, over the years, brought together a range of businesses; the oldest one was established early in the 1800s. The company’s products include surfactants and oleochemicals, and it is ‘an industry leader in the refrigeration lubricants market’. Hercules says that the expansion of its synthetics lubricants capacity will be completed by the second quarter of 2007.
Hyundai is to invest €1.3 billion in a new European production site at Nosovice in the Czech Republic. Building will begin before the end of this year, and production is scheduled to start in October 2008. Hyundai expects its initial annual output to be 200,000 passenger cars and SUVs, plus 600,000 gearboxes. From 2011, annual production volume will be increased to 300,000 units, including multi-purpose vehicles. The site will be operated by a new subsidiary of the company, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech. The aim of the manufacturer is to double its annual European sales by 2010.
Citroën is now running its UK head office diesel cars and vans on 30% biodiesel, at a time when the EU is pressing hard for increased production of plant-derived products. The company says that its blend of ordinary diesel and processed vegetable oil can be used in all current edition Citroën diesel vehicles, without any technical modification, and can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by around one-fifth. The EU has asked the motor and lubricants industries to collectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 120g/km (a reduction of 25% on the current average) by 2012. The UK Government’s Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation wants bio-fuels to account for 5% of all fuel by 2010 – it is currently at 0.25%. Citroën cites expert suggestions that biodiesel could have an overall life-cycle effect of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by between forty per cent and sixty per cent over ordinary diesel engines. This takes account of the combined reduction in emissions, as well as the energy used in growing or extracting the fuel. Citroën is sourcing its thirty per cent biodiesel from Total.
13. JCB does it! The JCB Dieselmax has succeeded in setting a series of world land speed records for diesel-powered engines (see OATS Bulletin No. 75). As at 23rd August the car had exceeded the target speed of 350 mph. Pilot/driver Andy Green said: 'I am so pleased that we have got the car to 350mph which was always our ultimate goal and that was with a slow start to the second run. There is so much more to come as the car is pulling like a train and we still haven’t used sixth gear!' The previous record, set thirty-three years ago, was 235.76mph. More at Dieselmax news
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