Our application-specific expertise and close working relationships with the world's leading OEMs enable us to provide our customers with products that have global consistency in formulation and performance, help maximise productivity, boost energy efficiency and business sustainability, says Shankar Karnik, Asia Pacific Mobil SHC Brand Manager, ExxonMobil Lubricants. Excerpts of the interview.

What is the impact of the shift towards fuel and energy efficiency on lubricant manufacturers?
Mobil Industrial Lubricants is a pioneer in energy efficient lubricants technology for power generating equipment considering that fuel economy and energy efficiency are key metrics in the sector along with a focus on customer benefits. From Mobil Industrial Lubricants' perspective, we are geared up to meet and exceed industry requirement through a suite of step up technology lubricants designed to potentially deliver energy efficiency benefits. For example, in engines burning natural gas, Mobil SHC Pegasus30 has demonstrated up to 1.5 per cent energy savings in natural gas compression application system. In field demonstration, Mobil SHC Pegasus30 clocked more than 16,500 hours of oil drain interval which is four times than that of competing products. Energy Efficiency of 1.5 per cent directly relates to fuel economy resulting in significant productivity savings for the customer. Additionally, higher drain interval means less environmental impact due to reduced waste oil generation.

Could you brief us more on the energy-efficient lubricants?
Our flagship Mobil SHC line of synthetic industrial lubricants not only delivers exceptional, long-lasting performance and protection, but also feature valuable energy efficiency benefits. The latest additions to our Mobil SHC family include the next generation of our popular Mobil SHC 600 Series of synthetic gear and bearing, circulating lubricants, and Mobil SHC Gear Series, a family of supreme performance synthetic, industrial gear oils. Mobil SHC synthetic lubricants were shown to deliver energy efficiency savings of up to 3.6 percent when compared with conventional oils in controlled laboratory testing.

What is the scope of synthetic oil-based lubricants in the future?
There is a lot of scope for synthetic oil-based lubricants since the industry is taking note of new technologies and is keen to achieve energy efficiency targets to ensure that their equipment run more efficiently and productivity gains are achieved. The response has been good till now and we expect that as awareness increases around the world, there will be more positive response from the industry in terms of adopting these newer technologies to ensure that their operations run much safer than now, with little impact on the environment and higher productivity gains.

Tell us about your R&D and where it is heading in terms of new developments.
ExxonMobil has invested significantly to make sure that we are in the driving seat when it comes to technology in the energy industry whether it is a breakthrough technology or a new molecule developed to cater to specific needs of the industry. With 20 per cent of Mobil Industrial Lubricants' workforce being committed to developing, researching or being involved in technical activities, which in turn facilitates product and technology development, it showcases our commitment to R&D. We have a number of R&D facilities around the world and lube product/lube molecule development is specifically taken care by the ExxonMobil Research and Engineering (EMRE) facility based in Paulsboro, New Jersey. Within this facility, which comes out with new product technology and new molecules for our requirements around the world, also includes other lubricant verticals like automotive, marine, aviation, etc.

Mobil SHC range, which offer energy efficiency 

• Mobil SHC 600 Series delivers 3.6 per cent energy efficiency savings
• TroubleMobil SHC 500 Series are synthetic hydraulic oils
• Mobil SHC Pegasus delivers 1.5 per cnet energy efficiency savings
• Mobil SHC Cibus series caters to food grade requirements of the industry
• Mobil SHC Gear series caters to heavily loaded gearbox application, and delivers 3.6 per cent energy efficiency savings.

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