Shell starts commercial US output of new motor oil made from natural gas

Shell announced Friday the creation of a first-of-its kind base oil made from natural gas, the cleanest burning fossil fuel. 

Shell refers to the process as its PurePlus technology, a patented process of converting natural gas into a clear base oil, which is the main component of motor oils.   

 

Shell's PurePlus technology is now being used to create motor oils that offer complete protection to motorists in the US. Pennzoil Platinum and Pennzoil Ultra Platinum full synthetic motor oils are the only ones blended exclusively with these base oils. 

 

"This is an absolute step change in our industry," said Istvan Kapitany, president of Shell's lubricants business in the Americas. "It is important to Shell that we continue to push the boundaries of science and innovation to provide our customers with improved transport options. 

"What better way to do that than leveraging the benefits of being an integrated company by adding natural gas from our upstream operations to a new slate of oil products that are hitting the store shelves now," he added.  

 

The PurePlus technology base oil is manufactured at the Pearl GTL facility in Ras Laffan in Qatar, a partnership between Qatar Petroleum and Shell. Shell's PurePlus base oil is crystal clear due to having fewer of the impurities found in crude oil. 

The Shell GTL and the Shell PurePlus base oil manufacturing processes have been the subject of multiple patents.

"Shell PurePlus Technology is the result of 40 years of innovation starting with the Shell natural-gas-to-liquids (GTL) process that dates back to the 1970s," said Dr. Richard Dixon, motor oil technology manager of Shell North America.

"We then took this technology and ultimately created Shell PurePlus base oil, which has been in large scale commercial development since late 2011," he added. "To our knowledge, Shell is the only manufacturer to have produced base oils from natural gas on a commercial , scaleand it's exciting to pave the way for others to follow."