---

Lukoil Marine Lubricants reports that sales increased by 74 percent in 2012 to approximately USD 200 million, according to the November 2013 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News.

Lukoil Marine Lubricants CEO, Victor Zhuravskiy, is quoted as saying: "Totally supported by our parent company, we have succeeded in developing an efficient, global enterprise that is currently leading the sector in terms of growth."

Commenting on the importance of the company's site in Hamburg, Germany, Zhuravskiy said: "Here we are in close proximity to our customers, because Germany, and Hamburg in particular, remains one of the world’s most important shipping hubs. The combination of Russian raw materials, worldwide leading additive technology and German engineering has become a success factor for us."

In his evalutation of the main reasons for the company's success since its launch in 2008, Stefan Claussen, technical and marketing director at Lukoil Marine Lubricants in Hamburg, remarked: "We are constantly expanding our global network. In addition, we were the first company to recognize the requirement for new, high alkaline cylinder lubrication oil and began development at an early stage."

Claussen added: "The new operating conditions and new engines require a higher than ever level of alkalinity in the cylinder lubrication oil, which can be achieved either through increasing consumption or increasing cylinder lubrication oil alkalinity to, ideally, 100 mg KOH/g. Whether under slow steaming conditions or in the new consumption-optimized engines, the consumption of cylinder lubrication oil with a higher base number is significantly reduced by up to 25 to 45 percent and protection against wear is also enhanced."

Lukoil recommends the use of cylinder lubrication oils with base numbers of 70 and 100 mg KOH/g to its clients. The newly developed LUKOIL NAVIGO 100 MCL is considered to be a key product for the firm. "In cooperation with the engine manufacturers MAN and Wärtsilä, we have demonstrated the new oil’s performance capability on a variety of ship engines," said Claussen. "As an example, the wear rate was improved and cylinder oil consumption reduced in a state-of-the-art MAN S80ME-C Mk 9.2."