Gazprom Neft Lubricants added a new product line designed for Russia’s Far East region and Central Asia, and expanded its presence in Mongolia and Serbia.
Gazprom Neft Lubricants is Russian oil major Gazprom Nefts lube arm. The company said its priority is to expand in the markets of Central Asia. In the last few years, Kazakhstan, the second biggest ex-Soviet republic after Russia, became Gazprom Nefts traditional market in Central Asia. The company holds 45 percent of the countrys lubricant sales, while the aggregate share of Gazprom Nefts presence in Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan lubricant markets is 22 percent, the company said.
It recently added another market to its list of Central Asian countries – Mongolia, where it started to sell its new Gazpromneft branded products. It is a logical step in the companys further expansion in Asia. Mongolias rapidly developing market will enable us to enhance our presence in the countrys transport and industrial segments, said Alexandar Trukhan, general director for Gazprom Neft Lubricants.
Introduction of the G-Energy Far East brand is driven by the growing population of Japanese and Korean-made cars in the Primorye region of Russias Far East. These products are made for the popular cars [imported in the country] from the Asia Pacific region. Their main properties are fuel efficiency and engine protection, said Trukhan.
The synthetic motor oils, in 5W-30 and 10W-30 viscosity grades, comply with the latest ILSAC and GF-5 specifications, and are meant for use in the gasoline engines of all passenger cars, microbuses and light commercial vehicles made in South Korea, Japan and the United States, the company said. With its anti-oxidation, water-proof and thickening properties, this product is compatible with turbocharged engines and engines that run on biofuels, according to the company.
The sales of Gazproms G-Energy product have increased in Europe, too. In its traditional market of Serbia, the companys joint venture, Gazprom Neft-NIS, signed a deal with Auto Cacak, the official dealer of Skoda cars there. Under the contract, NIS-Gazprom Neft lube products will be offered in 35 Skoda dealership auto centers in Serbia. The cooperation is focused on joint activities in terms of recommending and promoting NISs petroleum products, as well as Nisotec and G-Energy engine oils, said NIS in its March 25 press release. Gazprom Neft holds a 56.5 percent stake in the Serbian oil major NIS.
The objective [of this cooperation] is to focus on the quality of services we provide to our companies joint customers. It recognizes a high quality of NIS products, as well as Skodas prominent position in the business world, being one of the top-selling automobile companies in Serbia, said NISs CEO Kiril Kravchenko.
G-Energy products supplied in Serbia are made in Gazprom Nefts lube plant in Bari, Italy. The company also operates a lubricants complex in Omsk, Western Siberia, that includes a base oil plant with 240,000 tons per year Group I capacity and a 70,000 t/y lubricants blending facility.
Gazprom Neft also operates a 30,000 t/y blending plant located in Fryazino, Moscow Oblast, and a 250,000 t/y API Group I base oil plant in Yaroslavl, under the Slavneft joint venture with the Russian oil company TNK-BP, recently acquired by Rosneft. That facility is to be upgraded to produce 100,000 t/y of Group III base oil by 2014, to be shared equally between Gazprom and TNK-BP (Rosneft).
The company markets products in 35 countries in Europe and Asia.