GP Petroleums introduces diesel exhaust fluid additive Clear Blue in India

GP Petroleums, which is part of Gulf Petrochem, has launched its latest offering for the commercial vehicle segment, Clear Blue, a diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) additive, in anticipation of India’s upcoming adoption of Bharat Sage VI.

Clear Blue is a solution made up of urea and water, which is injected into the vehicles exhaust system before nitrogen oxide comes out of the tailpipe. This solution, when fed into the exhaust, reacts with the nitrogen oxide gas and breaks it down into harmless nitrogen and oxygen. At higher temperatures, this solution turns into ammonia, which breaks down nitrogen oxides in the process, resulting in the reduction in the volume of diesel particulate emissions.

Formerly known as Sah Petroleums, GP Petroleums also manufactures industrial and automotive lubricants. It was acquired by GP Global Group in 2014.

GP Petroleums claims to have a market share of around 4% to 5% of India’s industrial lubricant segment and aims to boost its market share of India’s automotive lubricant segment from 1% to 5%. The local Ipol brand is strong in the mass-volume market in India, but alongside GP Petroleum’s tie-up with Spain’s Repsol to manufacture and market the Repsol brand, GP Petroleums is gaining inroads in the premium market, according to Hari Prakash, GP Petroleums CEO.

Prakash believes that Repsol, which has a strategic tie-up with Honda racing, is a brand that resonates among Indian consumers.

“In the last five years, they [Repsol Honda] have won four out of five championships. So we are not really surprised wherever we went people already knew the Repsol brand, it did not need any introduction.”

Prakash reveals that the company is also looking at expanding. “We are already looking at some organic expansion and looking at some sort of assets in other parts of India, if we need to increase the capacity. We have got the board approval for another new plant, but we are exploring all the options,” Prakash says.

GP Petroleums also plans to expand its distribution network from the current 80 to 200 by the end of FY 2018.