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Gazpromneft-Lubricants Ltd - a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft specializing in the production and sale of oils, greases and technical fluids - claims it increased its market share in the Russian marine oils business by 10 percent in 2016, bringing its total contribution to sales in the country to 36 percent.

Gazpromneft-Lubricants says it sold around 14,000 tonnes of marine lubricants to ships in 2016. Deliveries to foreign ship owners in Russian ports more than doubled to 2,200 tonnes, and imports of marine lubricants to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Baltics increased 2.5 times to 1,500 tonnes, the lube specialist said.

Last year, Gazomneft-Lubricants reported that sales of marine lubricants in 2015 were 8,000 tonnes compared to 2,500 the previous year. A summary of annual sales over the last three years, according to the Russian supplier, has been provided below.

2016: 14,000 tonnes
2015: 8,000 tonnes
2014: 2,500 tonnes

"We achieved top results in 2016 in marine lubricants due to the systematic expansion of the supply network in all ports of Russian Federation, setting up efficient client and marketing support, and expanding our unique technical services," said Alexander Trukhan, General Director of Gazpromneft-Lubricants.

"Our strategy is aimed at further expanding the marine lubricant line, where we plan to introduce a new brand of specialized lubricants onto the market."

Established in 2007, Gazpromneft-Lubricants has five production facilities throughout Russia, Italy and Serbia. Total production volumes of premium oils, lubricants and service fluids stand at around 500,000 tonnes per year.

Texaco-branded marine oils are produced under licence from Chevron Marine Lubricants (CML) at Gazpromneft-Lubricants' facilities in Italy and Russia. The marine oils are produced from Russian base oils using Chevron Oronite additives.