Technological step-change

These have been successful, if costly. Moreover, conventional mineral base oils are also now no longer effective in these high specification low emissions power-plants.

This has led Chevron and its technologists to further build on its long-term technological expertise in Group II base oil development, in order to meet emerging technical challenges - including these mounting high temperature, low emissions issues - and to take the lead in delivering technological solutions across Europe.

Meeting pan-European needs

In late 2007 Chevron invested in an infrastructure including storage facilities in Antwerp to make its Group II products more readily available. And to meet future European and global demands for these low emissions Group II oils, a more significant investment would be required. This would mean the expansion of one of Chevron’s US refineries.

The solution is the proposed expansion of Pascagoula refinery in Mississippi, US.  Chevron Global Lubricants President Dale Walsh said that with the additional manufacturing capacity from Pascagoula, the company would become the world’s largest producer of premium – Group II and III – base oils, with 61,000 b/d (US barrels per day) of capacity.

Chevron’s Richmond, Calif., plant has 20,000 b/d of Group II capacity. GS Caltex, a 50-50 joint venture of Chevron and South Korean company GS Holdings, has 12,000 b/d of Group II and 4,000 b/d of Group III capacity in Yeosu, South Korea.

World leadership in Group II solutions This means there will now be a sufficient supply of premium quality Group II base oils in Europe for the production of high performance, low emissions lubricants. In fact, currently 60 percent of the world’s premium base oils already benefit from Chevron processing technologies.

What does this mean for fleet operators?

Chevron lubricants formulated with Group II base oil technologies deliver a number of significant benefits. Firstly, there’s the cost. Chevron Group II base oils are less expensive to manufacture when compared to traditional synthetic oils.

While cost reduction is a highly significant benefit, Chevron Group II lubricants go a whole lot further in optimising fleet efficiency and cost of operation.

Chevron premium quality hydroprocessed Group II base oils form the basis for lubricants capable of delivering ultra high protection and performance to latest generation high output, low emissions truck and bus engines, working at high operating temperatures.

This means that not only will these advanced technology lubricants meet the ever-more stringent next generation emissions legislations, but they also deliver a whole range of other capabilities. These include low SAPs properties that result in a significant reduction in sulphated ash, phosphorus and the removal of sulphur.

It also means maximum wear and corrosion protection, with reduced oil consumption, and it means less thermal oxidation due to the pure state of Chevron Group II base oils.

Chevron Group II base oils, when formulated with other Chevron technologies also deliver high level protection to vulnerable exhaust after-treatment systems, optimising fleet uptime and competitive advantage.

The significant benefits of Chevron Group II base oils are already present in Europe, and will grow significantly when the Pascagoula plant comes on-line in 2011, delivering cost efficient low emissions engine protection to Europe’s environmentally conscious and highly competitive Commercial marketplace.