Argentina’s YPF plans to double its share of Brazil’s lubricants market by 2017 to 4%, according to Ramiro Ferrari, director general of YPF Lubricants and Derivatives in Brazil.

The company, which has acquired the operations of lubricant blender Packblend plans to boost the lubricant blending plant’s capacity located in Diadema, a municipality in São Paulo state,  from 3 million litres to 4 million litres per month, within three years. YPF purchased Packblend for BRL 25 million (USD 6.7 million).

“The Brazilian market is one of the five largest in the world,” said Ferrari, and competition is fierce. Brazil’s Petrobras has a 30% market share, Ipiranga, a subsidiary of Ultra and the second-largest fuel distribution company in Brazil, with 20%, and Petronas Lubricants International, with 18%. Multinational companies such as Shell, with 15-20%, ExxonMobil, Castrol and Chevron are also key players.

Despite the 12% decline in lubricant demand last year as a result of Brazil’s economic crisis, Ferrari said that YPF plans to boost its revenues from BRL 220 million (USD 58.9 million) to BRL 500 million (USD 133.9 million) in the near future.

YPF also plans to start producing marine lubricants, in partnership with Gulf Oil.