ExxonMobil Lubricants and Specialties is lifting U.S. sales allocations for all automotive synthetic products effective today, and is lifting or increasing allocations on a variety of industrial synthetic lubricants and greases.
This is a result of EMLSs primary polyalphaolefin (PAO) supplier, ExxonMobil Chemical, resuming operations at its PAO production facility in Beaumont, Texas, in December 2008, ExxonMobil spokeswoman Prem Nair told Lube Report.
ExxonMobil informed customers it will lift the allocation for low viscosity Mobil brand industrial synthetics effective Feb. 1, including SHC 500 Series, SHC 800 Series, Rarus SHC 1020 Series, SHC Gargoyle Arctic 200 Series and NH 68, and Pegasus 1. The company will also remove from sales control Mobilgear SHC XMP and Mobil SHC grease 460WT effective Feb. 1.
The company will increase the allocation percentage for other Mobil SHC industrial synthetic lubricants currently under allocation to 80 percent effective Feb. 1. The company said it will implement similar allocation increases in other markets like Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific in the very near future.
Sales allocations went into effect Oct. 1 on a variety of Mobil 1 synthetic lubricants due to the continued shutdown of the Beaumont PAO plant. ExxonMobil Chemical tapped other sources to give its Beaumont-supplied customers access to more low viscosity PAO base stocks. ExxonMobil Lubricants and Specialties was then able to significantly increase the allocation percentage for some lubricants effective Dec. 1.
On Sept. 12, ExxonMobil Chemical shut down the 82,000 metric ton per year plant, which represents more than a third of North American PAO capacity, before Hurricane Ike hit on Sept. 13. The facility then suffered flooding damage from the storm surge associated with the hurricane.