Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. reported a 15% bump in lubricant sales for the fiscal year ended March 31, boosted by a 20% rise in sales to the Middle East region and Africa via a subsidiary and expansion of its lube marketing network.
The sales increase represented a rebound from the prior fiscal year, when sales were constrained by factors that included availability of product supplies pursuant to a planned turnaround at its base oil plant in Mumbai.
Owned by India’s central government, HPCL reported lubricant sales of 626,560 metric tons for 2022-2023 fiscal year, compared to 545,200 tons in the 2021-2022 fiscal year. It was also an improvement from 619,610 tons in the 2020-2021 fiscal year. In its annual report, HPCL said it strengthened and widened the geographical reach of its lubes marketing network by adding 36 new channel partners during the fiscal year.
The company said it had achieved its highest-ever sales to countries in the Middle East region and Africa via its Dubai-based, 100%-owned subsidiary, HPCL Middle East FZCO (HMEF). The subsidiary registered sales of 1,221 tons of lubricants, an increase from 1,017 tons.
The company exported 6,000 metric tons to 18 overseas markets during the fiscal year, compared to 8,100 tons to 12 countries in the prior fiscal year.
HPCL estimated India’s total demand for finished lubricants at 2.8 million tons during the fiscal year, with process oils accounting for about one third of the demand.
India’s lubricants and grease consumption declined 16% to 4 million tons for the fiscal year, HPCL estimated, attributing the decrease to a short supply of base oil that mainly due to refinery shutdowns.
The company signed an agreement with a unit of United States-based Chevron Corp. to manufacture and sell its lubricant products in India, the companies announced in March this year. HPCL and Chevron Brands International LLC entered into a long-term trademark licensing agreement, the companies said in the joint statement. The agreement paves the way for Caltex-branded lubricants to be manufactured, distributed, and marketed in India by HPCL. The partnership encompasses the licensing, production, distribution, and marketing of Chevron’s lubricant products under the Caltex brand, according to the statement.
HPCL operates six lubricant blending plants. The Mumbai-based company’s lubes business supplies lubricants and greases to private and government-owned industrial customers, as well as to a network of lube distributors and retail outlets, many of them in the bazaar market.
Its base stock plant – owned jointly with Oil and Natural Gas, which has a 51.1% controlling stake – makes API Groups I, II and III base stocks. It is the largest base oil plant in India.