Lubricants Industry to Power on Technical Partnership with OEMs [Jan 2012]

January 11, 2012 6:30 am

Lubricants have important contribution in improving fuel efficiency in terms of auto-production and enhancing performance of engines. Shell’s Vice-President Marketing (Commercial Fuels and Lubricants) Colin Abraham believes that the greatest efficiency gains will be made where engines and lubricants are developed in collaboration with OEMs
Global lubricant demand is forecast to reach 40.5 million metric tons in 2012. What will be Shell’s capacity by then? And what is your expansion plan to meet the increasing demand?To meet the future demand, we need a variety of energy sources, and this is something Shell has been preparing for over many years. Earlier this year, the first cargo of gas-to-liquid (GTL) products was shipped from our new Shell Pearl plant in Qatar. The result of a multi-billion dollar investment, at full capacity Pearl will provide 30 per cent of the world’s Group III base oils needed in the production of high quality premium lubricants. This makes Shell the only oil major able to meet all of its own Group III base oil needs. We will supply as a priority to our key customers, and have the infrastructure and processes in place to do this. After we have met our own Group III requirements, we will be in a position to supply this base oil to others in the market. In short, Shell is extremely well-placed to meet demand in 2012 and beyond.
Last year Shell topped the list of the world’s leading lubricants suppliers for the fifth year running, according to a recent research into the global lubricants market by Kline & Company. The research report reveals that Shell has more than 13 per cent of the market by volume in 2010 and a 2 per cent lead over its nearest competitor.
Tell us about the significance of Indian market for Shell’s global business.India is a key market for Shell and we have had a presence here for about 80 years. Shell Lubricants employs around 400 people countrywide and our investment in India over the past few years has been significant, reflecting the country’s importance to our global business. Shell India has been manufacturing the lubricants in its state-of-the-art oil blending plant at Taloja since 1997. Alongside this, we have a Customer Service Centre in Chennai, as well as our newly opened Shell Technology Centre in Bangalore (STCB).
The STCB is one of three global technology hubs; we have similar operations in both Houston and Amsterdam. The STBC is situated in Bangalore due to its proximity to the key science and technology talent that resides in the region. The operation drives niche areas of technical work in fields such as coal bed methane, bitumen R&D and technical services, carbon capture and sequestration as well as subsurface modeling. Overall, the function of the STCB is to provide cutting-edge downstream research and development, as well as working with our latest upstream technologies and processes.
Would you like to brief us about the importance of lubricants to the auto-production process? Specifying the correct lubricant or grease is critical to ensure as it provides the necessary lubricant qualities required by auto-production equipment. Shell develops lubricant and grease products that are designed to provide the optimal level of equipment protection. Lubricants are the vital component in the auto-production process and selecting the correct lubricant for the job can help save operators costly downtime through increased protection and reduced drain intervals.
Original equipment manufacturers are also looking for ways to reduce the fuel consumption of their engines. Lubricants have an important contribution in improving fuel efficiency. They are in contact with and critical to the effective operation and longevity of almost all engine parts. Lubricant viscosity is linked to engine friction and lowering it is a reliable means of improving fuel economy, provided that the integrity of the engine’s components is not compromised.
In addition, Shell has developed a variety of services that are designed to meet the needs of our customers in this sector. A service such as Shell LubeAdvisor offers technical support that can help automotive manufacturing OEMs identify the best lubricant for their production lines.
Do you recommend that the automotive OEMs should work in partnership more with oil companies? We are strong believers in the power of technical partnership. Our customers are asking for ever more fuel efficiency, whether in auto-production or to improve the performance of the products they manufacture. We believe that the greatest efficiency gains will be made where engines and lubricants are developed in collaboration. As such, we have developed technology collaborations with many OEMs, fostering a co-engineering approach that sees both of our organisations work together to formulate new lubricants from the concept stage right through to rigorous field testing until ready for manufacture.
We have found through experience that by taking this approach, we have been able to achieve significant increases in fuel efficiency and we will be able to continue to explore future solutions for the energy challenge. We work with the likes of Daimler, Ducati and Ferrari in the automotive sector and have enjoyed a close technological partnership with Ferrari in particular since 1940.

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