Russian oil major Lukoil and Uzbek car maker UzAuto signed a deal for production and marketing of engine oils and technical fluids.
Under the deal, the Russian oil major will market UzAutoOil-branded products not only in Uzbekistan, but in other Central Asia countries as well. At the same time Lukoil will provide the Uzbek car maker know-how for development of a packaging production plant and development of a lubricants and technical fluids filling line. Vadim Vorobyev, Lukoil’s deputy director, and Tokhirzhon Zhalilov, UzAuto’s vice-president, signed the deal in September.
LLK International, Lukoil’s lubricants arm, will market the products. For us Uzbekistan is one of the most attractive markets in Central Asia for the sale of motor oils and other lubricants, Vorobyev said in a press release.
LLK has been very active in the region last couple of years. Last year the lube maker signed a deal for factory fill lubricants for SamAuto, an Uzbek enterprise that operates an Isuzu bus and truck assembly plant. The same year it signed another factory fill deal for supply of Lukoil Genesis FE-branded motor oils with GM Powertrain Uzbekistan, an Uzbek engine producer. In July this year LLK started to produce UzAutoOil-branded motor oils to meet the needs of GM Uzbekistan, the UzAuto controlled car assembly plant located in Asaka.
GM Powertrain and GM Uzbekistan are joint ventures of Detroit, Mich.-based car maker General Motors and Tashkent-based UzAuto. The company produces lines of car brands such as the Korean Daewoo models Matiz and Nexia and American GM’s Chevrolet models Lachetti, Captiva and Malibu.
UzAuto is involved in another joint venture with the German Man Truck & Bus Group, which assembles Man trucks in Uzbekistan.
LLK is Russias biggest lube marketer and holds about 30 percent of the countrys lubricants market. In 2012, the company sold 325,000 metric tons of packaged lubricants, up from 220,000 tons the year before. It sells finished products in 35 countries. LLK operates four blending and base oil plants in Russia. In addition to its blending plants in Romania and Finland, it has one plant in Turkey.