The Group IV and Group V base oil charts shown in our Global Lube Base Oil Specification Quick Reference Center, listed in the right hand column of every week's OEM/Lube News issue, are in the process of being updated, finalized and will appear in next week's OEM/Lube News. We have added several additional base oil manufacturers/refineries, as well as having updated the existing products which the listed companies produce and market.

These modifications include the following:

Group IV base oils - addition of companies (Tafneft, for example) and deletion of companies (for example, Idemitsu Kosan, who has, at least for now, exited the PAO business), as well as the addition of product lines and viscosity cuts (ChevronPhillips Chemical Synfluid mPAO, for example) and deletions (ExxonMobil Chemical SpectraSyn Ultra, for example, which the company is decommercializing December 31) as well as modifications of some of the viscosities.

Group V base oils - addition of companies and basestocks (Clariant esters and PAGs and Calumet POEs, for example), as well as significant additions and some deletions of many base oil cuts as well as modifications in some of the viscosities.

Please note that the Group V listing includes all naphthenic base oils together at the end of the Group V synthetic basestock listing.

We would like to take the opportunity to thank the many oil companies that contributed to this study by providing detailed data to us.