Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd, one of the India’s largest integrated energy companies, and Castrol India, the country’s producer and marketer of finished lubricants, signed a memorandum of understanding to explore developing rerefined base oils in India.
The country is the third-largest finished lubricant market in the world, behind the United States and China. Total finished lubricant demand is about 3 million metric tons per year. Rerefining capacity is currently about 1 million t/y, but rerefined base oil output is about 27,000 t/y. Capacity is dispersed among 400 rerefiners around the country India.
The Indian government recently mandated that up to 40% of finished lubricants be rerefined base stocks, according to Bhupinder Singh, business development director at bluechemGROUP, said at an industry conference today.
Under the MoU, HPCL and Castrol will evaluate the commercial, operational and technical feasibility of collecting and rerefining used lubricating oil.
“Used oil is a valuable resource if collected and processed in the right way,” said Saugata Basuray, Castrol India’s interim CEO.