A new study commissioned by ATIEL showed engine lubricant technology makes a significant contribution to vehicle emissions reduction in Europe.

The study, carried out by independent engineering and environmental consultancy Ricardo, looked at diesel and gasoline passenger cars and diesel light commercial vehicles and long-haul trucks. Lubricants have contributed to the de-carbonization of the European Union because of fuel efficiency gains and will have mitigated carbon dioxide emissions by up to 4.1 percent per year in road transport by 2020, with a projected additional 1 to 1.3 percent by 2030, it said.

Testing evidence … shows a clear trend of CO₂reductions attributable to the use of lower viscosity lubricant specifications, the study said.

Ricardo also found that between 2005 and 2020, direct improvements to vehicle efficiency resulting from the lubricant will have resulted in an estimated 1.1 billion to 3 billion per year in end-user fuel savings by 2020. From 2020 until 2030, that figure will be 800 million to 2.5 billion per year. When adding the indirect effects of the lubricant, the study estimates lubricants will have contributed 13.8 billion to 26.2 billion per year in end-user fuel savings by 2020, with a potential further 5.2 to 8.3 billion per year by 2030.

ATIEL is a technical trade association representing European and international manufacturers and marketers of lubricants in Europe.

ExxonMobil CompletesSingapore Upgrade

ExxonMobil completed an upgrade of one of its Singapore base oil plants and expects to supply the new output to customers in the third quarter of this year. Although the company has not disclosed the projects size, industry sources have estimated it would add about 300,000 metric tons per year of API Group II production capacity to a plant that had capacity to make 678,000 t/y of Group I oils. The project was first announced in February 2017 and involves a plant on the island of Pulau Ayer Chawan. The company already operates a 1.5 million t/y Group II plant in Jurong Industrial Estate on Singapores main island.

The Irving, Texas-based energy giant has been adding a large amount of additional Group II capacity at several locations around the world. In February this year, it opened a 1 million t/y Group II plant in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In 2015, it completed Group II expansions of 300,000 t/y at its plant in Baytown, Texas, and 325,000 t/y at Jurong Industrial Estate.

The upgrade could add to a Group II surplus in the Asia-Pacific region. Some analysts say Group II supply in the region already exceeded demand when the Rotterdam plant opened, because ExxonMobil stopped shipping Group II from Singapore to supply European customers who had been lined up ahead of the Dutch facilitys opening.

Neste and Bapco Bury the Hatchet

Finnish refiner Neste, Bahrain Petroleum Co. and Nogaholding have resolved a dispute over the marketing of Bapcos Group III base oils produced from the three entities joint venture refinery in Sitra, Bahrain. It ends speculation as to whether the companies would carry on with an agreement that allows Neste to market 45 percent of the plants output and Bapco to market the remaining 55 percent. The companies agreed to maintain the status quo.

Chris Stahlberg, Nestes general counsel, did not respond to LubesnGreases questions about the nature of the dispute. Instead, he said via email, The terms of the amicable resolution are confidential, and the parties look forward to continuing to work together in their joint venture.

Neste owns a 45 percent stake in the plant, which opened in 2011, while Bapco and state-owned Nogaholding each own 27.5 percent. For the first six years of the facilitys operations, the Finnish company had rights to market 100 percent of the output under its Nexbase brand name, but that arrangement broke down in 2017 when the partners agreed to the current marketing allocation.

Trouble in Caracas DentsNynas Profits

Nynas naphthenic business segment, which primarily supplies base oils, reported 328 million Swedish krona (U.S. $35 million) in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for full year 2018, down more than 59 percent from 807 million krona for 2017. United States sanctions against one of its parent companies, Petroleos de Venezuela, have taken a heavy toll on profits, said an annual report that Nynas filed in June.

Doing Deals

Fuchs Petrolub SE announced it anticipated a 1 percent decline in sales to 1.3 billion for the first six months of 2019 and earnings before interest and tax over that period close to 20 percent below the previous year. The reason for this is the continued global market weakness, particularly in June, the Mannheim, Germany-based company stated.

Lukoil Marine Lubricants renewed an agreement with Kuwait Oil Tanker Co., a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corp., to supply its fleet of tanker vessels with marine lubricants.

Al Manar Trading & Distribution Co. agreed to a deal with Total to exclusively distribute Elf brand lubricants, including engine and hydraulic oils, in Egypt.

SK Lubricants Co. will supply its Yubase Group III and Yubase Plus Group III+ base oils to Chinas largest oil and gas producer Petrochina.

Industrial remote monitoring company Anova acquired Coimbra, Portugal-based ISA, a developer of remote tank monitoring solutions for lubricants, among other things.

Hindustan Petroleum Corp., through its subsidiary HPCL Middle East, appointed Al Nabooda Automobiles as its lubricants distributor for the United Arab Emirates.

On Site

Evonik announced it is expanding its production capacity for polyalkylmethacrylate-based viscosity modifiers by 15 percent to meet rising demand. The oil additives provider has a global production footprint, including three plants in Europe.

Chemical company Oxea will build a new carboxylic acid production unit in Oberhausen, Germany, to come on stream by 2021. It will be the companys sixth such plant in its global production network. Carboxylic acids are used for manufacturing lubricant esters.

Indonesian energy company Pertamina and Saudi Aramco will continue jointly upgrading Pertaminas largest oil refinery Cilacap, which has an existing base oil plant with capacity to make 450,000 t/y of Group I oil. Completion of the upgrade was scheduled for 2021 but is now expected in 2026.

Chemicals company Ineos agreed to build a linear alphaolefin plant and a polyalphaolefin plant in Saudi Arabia as part of a larger petrochemical project being developed by Saudi Aramco and Total. The PAO plant would be the first such facility in the Middle East.

Personnel Column

Nick Clague, the global technical manager of SK Lubricants, is the new chair of the Coordination Council for the development of performance tests for fuels, lubricants and other fuels. Clague takes over from Frank Stunnenberg of Chevron.