The Torzhok, Russia, lubricant factory that Lukoil bought recently from Shell will produce products to be marketed under the Teboil brand that Lukoil owns in Finland, Lukoil announced today.
Teboil, an oil company in Finland, was acquired by Lukoil in 2005.
Lukoil also announced that the 411 Shell gasoline stations that were part of the same deal will bear the name of the Finnish company.
“A decision has been made to preserve the acquired business in a separate subsidiary of the company,” Lukoil said news release issued today.
Lukoil is the largest lubricant marketer in Russia. Some Teboil-branded finished lubes were already being sold in Russia, but this marks the first time for Lukoil to sell fuels under the brand.
“Russian customers know the brand as a supplier of lubricants,” Lukoil said. “Their imports date back to the 1960s.”
The lubricants blending plant that Lukoil bought from Shell in May, which has a capacity of 180,000 tons per year, will manufacture Teboil-branded products as well, the Russian company said.
”We are happy to have this opportunity to keep the trust of our clients and continue our work under the new Teboil brand, especially taking into account the high standards of service,” said Vitaly Maslov, general director of Teboil Russia. “Lukoil has the most high-tech refineries in Russia, as well as innovative high-quality products. It opens up a lot of new development opportunities.”
Maslov previously headed the network of Shell’s Russian gasoline stations, of which 411 were sold to Lukoil in the same deal. An additional 19 stations were not part of the deal because they operated under licensing agreements.
On May 19, Russia’s antitrust agency approved the sale of 99.9% of Shell Neft to Lukoil with a few caveats aimed at development of competition on the refined products market in Russia. Shell and other big oil majors, like Exxon Mobil and BP, exited the Russian market in protest of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Market observers believe that the move by Lukoil to use the Teboil brand for the ex-Shell gasoline stations is part of the company’s efforts to comply with the regulator’s demand.
Now, after the exit of such big oil majors as Shell, BP and ExxonMobil, Russia’s refined products market is tightly controlled and dominated by the state oil companies Rosneft and Gazprom Neft.