Shell Lubricants Market Leader for Tenth Year in a Row

Shell Lubricants has retained its global market leading position in 2015 with 11.6% market share, according to Kline & Company’s Global Lubricants Industry: Market Analysis and Assessment 2016 report. This is the tenth consecutive year that Shell Lubricants has been named the number one global lubricants supplier.

Product sales estimates by Kline & Company indicate that Shell sold between 4,400 – 4,600 kilotonnes of finished lubricants in 2015 – 36% in consumer automotive, 34% in industrial and 30% 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 innovation, advanced technical services offer and a strong team. We have also consistently invested in upgrading and growing our world-class supply chain, to align with demand in emerging markets. 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 Kline & Company report further states that Shell Lubricants is the market leader in Philippines (30%), Malaysia (27%), United Kingdom (18%) and United States (12%). Shell Lubricants is also the market leading international oil company in South Africa (20%), Thailand (18%), Canada (13%) and China (8%).

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[1] 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 three lubricant blending plants, building four new lubricant blending plants, constructing one new grease manufacturing plant and one new Group II base oil manufacturing plant[2]. 

Shell Lubricants was the market leader in the passenger vehicle sector in United States (22%), Philippines (32%), Malaysia (31%), Canada (19%) and China (14%). Pioneering Gas-To-Liquid (GTL) technology based premium passenger car oils, manufactured from natural gas, have been one of the key drivers for success. Since the 2014 launch, the Shell Helix Ultra with PurePlus Technology[3] products have seen double-digit growth and are available in over 100 markets around the world. Additionally, premium penetration of Pennzoil Platinum since 2012 increased 155% in North America, boosted by Shell PurePlus Technology[4]. These products have also pushed the boundaries of performance on the extreme test bed of various motorsport racetracks around the world.

Shell is currently also the preferred passenger car oil brand in China, United States, Malaysia and Thailand; preferred motorcycle oil brand in Malaysia and Philippines; and preferred heavy duty oil for trucks brand in China, Egypt, Russia and United States[5].

Shell has also built successful commercial relationships with key global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) including BMW AG, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Group, Hyundai, Renault-Nissan, Toyota, General Motors, Daimler AG, Suzuki, Ducati, MAN, ZF, General Electric, Aggreko, Siemens and various Chinese OEMs including Geely & FAW.

Additionally, Shell provides lubricant solutions for a variety of industrial machinery including wind turbines, heavy-duty mining equipment and manufacturing machinery. In the industrial lubricant sector, Shell is a market leader in Philippines (29%), Thailand (24%), Malaysia (20%) and United Kingdom (18%). In the commercial vehicle sector, Shell leads in Malaysia (31%), Canada (20%) and United States (18%). Shell Lubricants has also documented over hundred million dollars in cost savings from the use of value-adding 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.

Enquiries:

Shell Lubricants Global: 
Mallika Joshi, +6564777466, Mallika.desai@shell.com

Mary B. Walsh, +32478402934, mary.walsh@shell.com

Notes to Editor:

• We have over 200 scientists and engineers working in specialised technical centres for lubricants in China, Japan (JV), US and Germany.  We opened our newest technology centre in Shanghai, China in 2014, dedicated to research and development into lubricants and oils.
• Shell is also the first and only lubricant supplier to co-create an efficient city car. The Shell Concept Car is a collaboration between Shell, Geo Technology and Gordon Murray Design. It uses 34% less energy and produces 28% less CO2 compared to a typical city car. The bespoke engine oil alone contributed 5% fuel economy and therefore reduced CO2 emissions correspondingly by 5%. This car is not commercially available.
• The Kline report confirmed that Shell is the world’s only large commercial volume producer of GTL base oils, the main ingredient in finished lubricants. Shell manufactures GTL base oils at Pearl GTL in Qatar, a partnership with Qatar Petroleum. Other than passenger car and Shell Advance Ultra with PurePlus Technology motorcycle oils, Shell has also manufactured industrial oils enabled by GTL technology. These include Shell Diala S4 ZX1 transformer oils, Shell Risella X process oils and Shell Turbo S4X and GX turbine oils.
• Shell upgraded its lubricant blending plants in the United States (Houston) and China (Tianjin 2012 and Zhapu 2013) to support growing demand in these top demand-leading lubricant markets. New major Shell lubricant blending plants were opened in Russia (Torzhok, 2012), Indonesia (near Jakarta, 2015) and two in China (Zhapu 2010, Nangang 2015). Furthermore, Shell’s largest grease manufacturing plant opened in China (Zhuhai, 2013) and new Group II base oil capacity came online in Korea (JV with Hyundai Oilbank, 2012). Currently a lubricant blending plant is under construction in Singapore.
• Shell has had longstanding motorsport technical partnerships with Ferrari (F1), Penske Corporation (Nascar and Indycar), and Ducati (MotoGP) and began collaborating with BMW Motorsport (DTM, USCC, 24-hour Nurburgring) and Hyundai Motorsport (World Rally Championship) within the past decade. Shell Helix Ultra with PurePlus Technology is the only motor oil that Ferrari F1, BMW Motorsport DTM and Hyundai i20 WRC cars use. Team Penske cars only use fully synthetic Pennzoil Platinum with PurePlus Technology on the race track.
• Shell offers a wide range of lubricant-related services to help maximise the impact of lubricants. Shell has helped save customers over $146 million[6] over the past 15 years with the help of these services. (See About Shell Lubricants for more information on services) In 2015, we launched Shell Virtual Assistant, an artificial intelligence-powered one-stop shop on the Shell website where customers and distributors can ask common lubricant questions, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This tool is available across 10 markets - China, Russia, Germany, India, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Australia, US & UK

[1] Brazil Russia India China

[2] Refer to notes to editor for details

[3] Available only outside of North America

[4] Pennzoil Platinum and Pennzoil Ultra Platinum with PurePlus Technology is available only in North America

[5] Millward Brown independent research Q2 2016

[6] Documented customer savings over the past 15 years. Note these are based on specific cases and situations and customer savings can differ case-by-case.