Thought to be one of the largest manufacturers of finished lubricants in the former Soviet Union, the Azmol lubricants plant in Berdyansk lay dormant for 15 years, its huge-capacity production equipment and administrative building locked behind rusting gates.

Azmol was created in 1937 as an aviation fuel refiner. Ten years later, the Soviets modified the facility to produce lubricants, and the company established a foothold with shipments of greases and automotive and industrial oils to every part of Soviet industry.

The countrys fall into economic doldrums in the chaotic 1990s, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and a rampant corporate land and asset grab marked by infighting between local oligarchs tied to the central government, left the company crippled, and in the early 2000s it ceased production altogether.

During this period, much of the companys workforce, including technicians, engineers and chemists, emigrated. Some employees joined the newly established Agrinol Group, a holding of companies engaged in many segments, which had ostensibly inherited Azmol by incorporating parts of its lubricant production.

In the meantime, Ukraines lubricant market was gradually dominated by foreign imports, a situation that persists until today.

But instead of a complete decay, the plants fortunes were reversed when it was reinvigorated in summer 2017 by a group of Ukrainian investors and British industry consultants. The new venture was named Azmol-BP, short for Azmol-British Petrochemicals. Since Azmols reopening, the company has closed outstanding debts, modernized parts of the production process and renewed its workforce.

The Ukrainian investors are unnamed officials from Agrinol and West Oil Group, a company that operates the largest network of fuel stations in Ukraine, a source who asked not to be identified told LubesnGreases. (This information could not be independently verified.)

Since then, the company gradually returned to doing business, old customer relationships were reestablished and new ones added. Lubricant production ramped up in 2018, adding several more finished products categories with more than 100 product types and several export destinations, helped by its location on the Ukrainian shore of the Azov Sea – ideal for shipping products by rail to the north and northwest of the country and by sea to its southern flanks in the Caucuses and Central Asia.

Brits Abroad

The British part of the venture is responsible for the companys technological modernization and is led by Terry Dicken, the owner of specialty lubricating products company Global Lubricants and chairman of the European Lubricating Grease Institute, an independent trade group focused on lubricating greases.

Supported by Ukrainian investors, we succeeded in reviving the company after many years of hibernation, Dicken told LubesnGreases. He said that United Kingdom entities such Global Lubricants and Oil Check Laboratory Service have been tasked with providing technical support for engineering, product development and testing, as well as rebranding and marketing. He did not discuss the structure of the companys ownership.

On the Slate

Azmol-BP has total production capacity of nearly 225,000 metric tons per year, including 125,000 t/y of finished lubricants and close to 100,000 t/y of greases. It also has its own filling and packaging line.

The company produces passenger car and commercial vehicle motor oils, as well as industrial lubricants and fluids for agricultural machinery. The product line includes Ultra Plus, Leader- and Famula-branded motor oils for passenger cars and commercial vehicles, either full synthetic or semi-synthetic ranging from SAE 0W-30, 0W-40 and 5W-40 to 10W-40 and 15W-40 viscosities. Azmol-BPs workforce can develop and implement the production of new modern lubricants that meet all the requirements of the world market, Dicken said during a presentation at GBCs CIS Base Oils and Lubricants conference in Moscow in May.

The company uses base oils from refiners such as Nynas, Chevron and Neste for its finished products and makes formulations with additive packages from European and American manufacturers.

In the greases segment, the company produces a slate of lithium, calcium and calcium sulfonate lubricating greases. It also produces bentonite, aluminum and synthetic greases. Calcium, potassium-calcium, lithium and potassium-lithium greases make up 75 percent of its total grease production. The company said its switched to more energy efficient horizontal reactors for lubricant production from the previous vertical ones.

Market Ambitions

The Ukrainian market consumes about 350,000 t/y of finished lubricants and is already served by well-established foreign players. According to A-95 Consulting, a Kiev-based consultancy focused on the Ukrainian fuel and petrochemicals industry, the majority of finished products consumed in Ukraine are imported.

In 2018, the country imported 258,000 tons of lubricants, mainly from Russia and Europe, according to the consultancy. Given business staked out by other Ukrainian companies, this has not left much opportunity for domestic sales by Azmol, according to German lube maker Fuchs Petrolub.

Dicken said that company aims to increase its share in the Ukrainian market, as well as to actively seek new foreign customers. Our products are becoming popular in the Ukrainian market and abroad, he said.

The company now offers 150 types of products over which it has strict control of quality at all production stages, and its research and development department carries out product development and testing with its own high-tech laboratory, according to Dicken.

We employed the latest generation of optical emission spectrometer, Varian Vista Pro RL, to test and monitor the lubricants. This equipment can control raw and consumable materials, and it determines the content of active elements in the production process and in finished products. It determines the basic composition and impurity content in oils and greases, Dicken told the Moscow conference.

As for oil condition monitoring, Azmol-BP revealed that in the short term it plans to open an independent center for lubricant and grease testing, offering services to its Ukrainian and international customers.

The Ukrainian GOSTs [obsolete Soviet-era specification standards], have expired, and in many cases it complicates the selection of correct lubricants. Our lab will perform analyses under the European standardization methodology, such as ASPI and DIN standards, and under the latest methods of oil analyses. In cooperation with the Ukrainian authorities, it will be tasked to issue state accreditation and certifications for quality, Sergey Spitsin, marketing manager at Agrinol, said in an emailed interview.

Letters of Recommendation

With the ramped-up production, the company has entered several new markets, with recent forays into Russia, Georgia, Lithuania and Libya. Azmol-BP also ships its products to countries such as Cambodia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Turkey, Moldova, Estonia and Latvia.

It also obtained a number of recommendations from European automakers for use of its motor oils in their vehicles. The company recently got a recommendation from automotive giant Daimler for Mercedes Benz cars, as well as from heavy-duty truckmakers Volvo Truck, Renault and Mack. Engine manufacturer Cummins has also issued a recommendation, and Azmol-BP is a licensed producer of Castrol marine oils.

Modernization and new product development continue for Azmol-BP, and the company believes it is now on the right track to return to its old position as an important regional lubricant producer.