Shell Lubricants market leader for tenth year in a row

Shell Lubricants has retained its global market leading position in 2015 with 11,6 percent 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 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, says: “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 the Philippines (30 percent), Malaysia (27 percent), the United Kingdom (18 percent) and the United States (12 percent). Shell Lubricants is also the market leading international oil company in South Africa (20 percent), Thailand (18 percent), Canada (13 percent) and China (eight percent).

George Morvey, industry manager, energy at Kline, says: “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.

Shell Lubricants was the market leader in the passenger vehicle sector in United States (22 percent), Philippines (32 percent), Malaysia (31 percent), Canada (19 percent) and China (14 percent).

Pioneering Gas-To-Liquid (GTL) technology-based premium passenger car oils, manufactured from natural gas, has been one of the key drivers for success. Since the 2014 launch, the Shell Helix Ultra with PurePlus Technology products have seen double-digit growth and are available in more than 100 markets around the world.

Additionally, premium penetration of Pennzoil Platinum increased from 2012 by 155 percent in North America, boosted by Shell PurePlus Technology. 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.

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 and 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 percent), Thailand (24 percent), Malaysia (20 percent) and UK (18 percent). In the commercial vehicle sector, Shell leads in Malaysia (31 percent), Canada (20 percent) and US (18 percent).

Shell Lubricants has also documented over a 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.