Petronas’ lubricant division reveals expansion plans in Malaysia

The lubricant division of Petronas Dagangan Bhd (PDB) is looking at expanding its business in sectors other than the traditional automotive one. Petronas is considering entry into the industrial, marine, power generation and plantation sectors. The company enjoys a 24% market share in the traditional lubricant business, and still wants to capture other segments. Mohd Shobri said, “With our price, brands, commitments, and aggressive growth strategies, we think we can still capture those segments. That is the way we’re going to grow our business. In fact, the company has planned its five-year strategy to move into various industries such as power generation.”
Citing PDB’s strength in the automotive lubricant segment, Shobri said that the company is also looking at expanding into the industrial and marine sectors. “Industrial is industries and you have a lot of machines … any metal-to-metal machines require lubricants. We’re now also enhancing our presence in the marine (sector). Coastal and global marine industries require global presence supply chain because ships move from one port to another internationally. So we are building up this capability. I think automotive is our biggest strength at this moment. But we are quite happy with the industrial, and marine is another business we are looking at,” he explained. (September 3, 2012)