Mergers, acquisitions and the explosive growth of API Group III are highlights of the 2012 Global Nonconventional Base Stock Guide, now available from LubesnGreases. Click here to order a copy.
The 2012 Guide, mailed with the September issue of LubesnGreases magazine to print-edition subscribers, lists 180 of the worlds key nonconventional base stock plants, with owners, locations and (where relevant) capacities. The high-value products listed include silicones, polyisobutene, esters, polyalkylene glycol, phosphate esters, polyalphaolefin and Group III base stocks.
Synthetic base stocks account for over 10 percent of global lubricant consumption by some estimates, and a much higher percentage of automotive engine oils and transmission lubes. Global chemical giants such as BASF, Croda and Dow are the key players in nonconventional base stocks. Refiners lead only in producing Group III stocks – one of the fastest growing base stock types – and are represented by such well known names as Shell, SK Lubricants, S-Oil and Neste.
A lot of deals have happened in the past year, the Guide shows. Some examples: GEO Specialty Chemicals bought a former Cognis plant, to join the PAG list; Hercules berth in esters now belongs to Monument Chemicals; and Neste sold its spot in PAOs to Chevron Phillips Chemical.
Group III stocks saw the biggest changes in the past year. Global capacity now tops 95,000 barrels per day, an astounding 61 percent increase over 2011, following the streaming of Shell-Qatar Petroleum and Neste-Bapco in the Middle East and expansions by Koreas S-Oil and SK.
The 2012 Guide was created in close cooperation with Pathmaster Marketing Ltd., Woking, U.K. For information about ordering a copy, please click here.