Page 38 - Fuels & Lubes International 2014 - Q2

FUELS & LUBES INTERNATIONAL Volume 20 Issue 2 38
Holthusen is PLI’s first COO. The
position was created in order to give the com-
pany a more global focus. Part of Holthusen’s
job is making sure that the global portfolio of
customers is serviced by a management system
that is equally global. Holthusen came to PLI
after spending a good portion of his career
at Shell. He has a very long-term perspective
on the lubricants market, not just in Asia but
around the world, and many strategies for
bringing PLI to greater prominence within it.
Under PLI, PETRONAS’ lubricants business
is consolidated. There are regional offices in Tu-
rin, Belo Horizonte, Durban, Kuala Lumpur and
Chicago. Some acquisitions, and the restructur-
ing afterward, have made PLI into what it is
today. In 1996, PETRONAS bought a control-
ling stake in Engen, South Africa’s leading oil
company. Engen’s lubricants business is now
part of PLI. In 2008, PETRONAS acquired FL
Selenia, the former Fiat lubricant business, from
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. With these
key acquisitions, PLI has achieved major inter-
national growth. Currently, its largest markets
are Malaysia, Italy, South Africa and Brazil.
Parent company PETRONAS has one base
oil refinery in Malacca, Malaysia, producing
300,000 tons of Group III base oil per annum.
PLI is able to cover nearly all of its Group III
demands and some of its Group I demands
from within the PETRONAS system.
This combination of being in control of
The Magic In May 2013,
Petronas Lubricants
International (PLI) hired
Eric Holthusen as chief
operating officer (COO)
to transform PLI into a
truly global company
and boost its market
share. PLI was formed
in 2008 to consolidate
PETRONAS’ lubricants
business. PETRONAS is
Malaysia’s state-owned
oil and gas company.
By Alison Gaines
Circle
P R O F I L E