Shell Lubricants has retained its global market leading position in 2015 with 11.6 percent market share, according to Kline & Co.’s Global Lubricants Industry: Market Analysis and Assessment 2016 report. This is the 10th consecutive year that Shell Lubricants has been named the No. 1 global lubricants supplier.
Product sales estimates by Kline & Co. indicate that Shell sold between 4,400 and 4,600 kilotonnes of finished lubricants in 2015 – 36 percent in consumer automotive, 34 percent in industrial and 30 percent in commercial automotive sectors.
John Abbott, Shell Downstream director, said, “In an environment where competition continues to be tough, this is a tremendous achievement for the Shell Lubricants business. Our success has been underpinned by our customer-focused approach, continuous product and service innovation, technology leadership, brand investment and a strong team. We have also consistently invested in upgrading and growing our world-class supply chain, to align with global demand patterns. Our future focus will continue to build on close customer and industry collaborations. These will deliver innovative and integrated product and service solutions to meet changing customer needs and opportunities that the energy transition brings.”
The report further states that Shell Lubricants is the market leader in Philippines (30 percent), Malaysia (27 percent), U.K. (18 percent) and U.S. (12 percent). Shell Lubricants also is the market-leading international oil company in South Africa (20 percent), Thailand (18 percent), Canada (13 percent) and China (8 percent), according to Kline & Co.
George Morvey, industry manager, energy at Kline, said, “Global lubricants reached 38.8 million tonnes in 2015, down from 39.4 million tonnes in 2014. Outside of India, the other BRICs did not grow, which contributed to the global decline. Despite a generally flat market and growing competition from national oil companies, independents and OEM genuine products, Shell has managed to defend its positions in all three market segments and retain its leading market share.”
To cater to growing demand, Shell invested hundreds of millions of dollars in its lubricants supply chain, upgrading four lubricant blending plants, building four new lubricant blending plants, one grease manufacturing plant and two new base oil manufacturing plants, according to the company.
In addition, Shell provides lubricant solutions for a variety of industrial machinery including wind turbines, heavy-duty mining equipment and manufacturing machinery. Shell Lubricants also has documented more than $100 million in cost savings from the use of Shell technical services for a selection of industrial customers. These services help customers choose, use, maintain and monitor lubricant applications in their equipment. Shell’s latest service offer is Virtual Assistant, an artificial intelligence powered one-stop-shop for lubricants related questions.
