PETRONAS, Malaysias state-owned oil and gas company, said that it aims to become the top passenger car motor oil brand in the country by 2019.
Amir Hamzah Azizan, PETRONAS Vice President of Lubricant Business, said PETRONAS is currently the second highest selling passenger car motor oil lubricant brand in Malaysia with a market share of 23 per cent.
"We are targeting to capture at least 30 per cent market share in three or four years' time," he told reporters after the launch of the company's latest passenger car motor oil lubricant, PETRONAS Syntium with CoolTech.
"We plan to increase global lubricant sales to 1.5 billion litres from 800 million litres annually within the next five years by further penetrating the China market. "China was our single largest lubricant market with 140 million litres of motor oil sold last year. But this only constitutes about three per sent of the market share in China and there is a huge room for improvement," Amir Hamzah said.
He said the newly-launched lubricant is expected to be distributed nationwide by May this year and would be exported to the key markets of Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Argentina and China within the next 18 months.
Based on data compiled by consulting and research firm Kline & Company, George Morvey, Industry Manager, Energy Practice, for Kline, told OEM/Lube News "In the consumer automotive lube segment in Malaysia, we have Shell in the top spot at around 35% market share, followed by PETRONAS, then BP. Combined, these three suppliers account for about 75% of the total consumer automotive lube sales. ExxonMobil, Caltex and all others round out the rest."
Morvey said that Kline pegs the Consumer automotive market segment in Malaysia at about 100KT +/- in 2014 with PCMO accounting for about 65% of that, MCO 25%, and the rest gear oil, ATF and grease.
The new PETRONAS Syntium with °CoolTech was launched globally in Kuala Lumpur on 21 March by PETRONAS Lubricants International (PLI), the global lubricants manufacturing and marketing arm of PETRONAS, with key Petronas executives present, including PETRONAS President and Group CEO Tan Sri Dato Shamsul Azhar Abbas, PLI Chairman and Executive Vice President of Downstream Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin, Vice President, Lubricants Business, PETRONAS Group Managing Director and PLI CEO Amir Hamzah Azizan, and Mercedes AMG PETRONAS Formula 1 Driver Nico Rosberg.
In Malaysia, PETRONAS Syntium with °CoolTech will be phased into the market at selected Petronas stations and PETRONAS LubeXperts automobile workshops. It will be available nationwide from May onwards.
When tested against the latest and highest service standard specifications such as the American Petroleum Institute, the International Lubricants Standardization and Approval Committee (ILSAC) and the European Automobile Manufacturer's Association (ACEA), PETRONAS Syntium with CoolTechTM performed better resistance to cam wear by more than 70%. In addition, the formulation delivered better oxidation resistance in excess of 60% and gave better protection against piston deposit build-up by more than 30%.
Elaborating on the science of PETRONAS Syntium with °CoolTech, Eric Holthusen, PLI COO said, Oxidising or oil thickening as the consequence of frequent exposure to high temperatures will limit the lubricants ability to travel around the engine, thus robbing its ability to absorb and transfer heat away from the internal engine parts. On the other hand, an engine oil that is too thin is also unable to deliver optimum performance for the engine.
