The company said it has been operating in Europe for many years with its own sales team and a network of distributors, and that its announcement demonstrates its continued commitment to investing and expanding in the market.

The growth in our distribution network strengthens our ability to meet the demands of our customers in the fleet, power generation, construction and mining segments, Wright said. We are investing in local infrastructure and expanding our long-term partnerships with Standic and Staalduinen Logistics. We are working with our partners to build new tanks to specifically meet the immediate and long-term needs of our European distributors and customers.

With the expanded distribution in Europe, a wide range of products will be available in bulk, including heavy-duty engine oil, passenger car motor oil, natural gas engine oils, transmission oil and hydraulic oil. As a result of our growing strategic position through our distributor and direct channels, we have generally seen double-digit growth within our commercial and industrial business over the past 10 years, Wright told Lube Report. Demand for bulk supply is particularly prevalent in the transportation, power generation, general manufacturing and OEM segments.

He noted that within the very competitive European marketplace, customers are looking for ways to reduce cost. Bulk packing can help fulfill that objective, Wright said. Typically large consumers of lubricants – many with multiple site locations – demand supply in bulk. For these customers there are economies of scale associated with supply in bulk.

Full-truck delivery for the highest-demand bulk products will now be ready for transport in just two days, the company noted, which means bulk delivery within three to four days for countries such as Germany, France, Belgium and Denmark.

The number of products available in bulk will more than double in 2015, and the company said its expansion plan has commitments to double the product offering again by 2020. Petro-Canada Europe Lubricants plans to continue to expand tankage positions and bulk product availability.

Petro-Canada Lubricants – a business of Suncor Energy, Canadas leading integrated energy company – blends and packages more than 350 different lubricants, specialty fluids and greases that are exported to more than 80 countries on six continents.