The company cited recovery of lubricant pricing margins as the main highlight in the third quarter, attributing that improvement to fluctuations in exchange rates and stabilization of costs.

In Peru, where Terpel operates a blending plant, the company said lubricant segment gross profit rose 16% to Col$72 billion, improving from Col$63 billion. Lubricant sales volume edged up 2% to 5 million gallons.

The uptick in Peru lubricant segment gross profit was also due to stabilization of costs and overcoming the disruption situations in logistics and raw materials supply chain encountered over the last year, the company noted, saying this helped add increases to prices.

In Ecuador and Panama, where its lubricants segment has smaller presences, Terpel reported mixed results.

In Ecuador, Terpel’s lubricant segment experienced a 12% decline in gross profit to Col$10 billion, and sales declined 11% to 1 million gallons. The gross profit was attributed mainly due to a contraction in the country of about 13%.

In Panama, the company’s lubricants segment’s gross profit rose 21% to Col$2 billion, and its sales volume jumped 25% to 200,000 gallons. Terpel attributed the higher gross profit to an improvement in the sales costs of its products and said the improvement in sales volume was due mainly to the recovery of sales to workshops and automotive spare parts stores.

Headquartered in Bogota, Terpel operates in Colombia, Peru, Panama, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic. The company started in Peru in 2014 under the Gazel brand name and then in 2018 under the name Terpel. It offers Mobil brand lubricants at all of its services stations and distribution points.