“They understand the market’s needs, and we believe that, with our Group II [and] II+ base oils in tank, YPF can help customers optimize formulations while shortening their supply chain,” Chevron Base Oils Vice President Tracey Gardiner said in a news release. “That means customers can minimize their base oil inventory while blending higher performing lubricants.”

Luyen Vo, manager of marketing and business development for Chevron base oils, noted the company has provided Group II base oil in the South American market since 2005. “Brazil was the first market that we were in, with infrastructure on the ground,” Vo told Lube Report in a phone interview. “We had tankage. We were in that market direct and didn’t have a distributor. We changed that business model back in 2019, when we switched over and selected Quantiq [Distributora] as our distributor.”

She noted that the launch of the company’s new base oil plant in Pascagoula, Mississippi, was key to accelerating its push into Latin America from a Group II perspective. “That’s one of the things we’ve always seen over the years,” Vo said. “When you have more premium base oil capacity coming online in a region, the acceleration to move towards higher quality base oils starts to move pretty fast.”

According to Chevron, by sharing its library of approved qualifications with its network of regional supply hubs – 17 globally – the company can help regional lubricant producers optimize formulating strategies while reducing complexity with a shorter, more reliable supply chain.

Vo explained that one of the challenges for base oil supply into locations such as Argentina and Chile is that the supply chain logistics to get into those countries can be long and complicated.