Catering to growing demand in a growing market

In a recent marketing event in Chengdu, Sichuan province, Shell launched its new Shell Rimula R5NG and Shell Rimula R3NG. These two new products join existing NGEOs Shell Rimula R6M and Shell Rimula R2 CNG in Shell’s NGO portfolio. They will be launched in other select markets later in the year.

“China is one of our growth markets, as we have demonstrated by the global launch of our premium Shell Helix Ultra with Pureplus Technology there in 2013. Once again, we have decided to introduce our new products, this time to cater to the growing natural gas engine oil market, to our customer base here. Congratulations to the whole team who have made this possible,” said Goh Swee Chen, VP of Shell Lubricants, Asia Pacific.

As the world’s most populous nation deals with smog coming from industrial activity as well as the hundreds of million vehicles on its roads, China is in the midst of a transport revolution. The Chinese government has advocated the use of alternative fuels to power its transportation systems.

Natural gas-powered vehicles seem to be the preferred alternative. In July 2014, it is estimated that about 3.8 million cars, trucks and buses in China are filling up with either compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 2020.

China is now the largest and fastest-growing market for LNG used in trucking. By 2015, 220,000 heavy trucks and 40,000 buses in China are expected to run on LNG.

Today, China has a network of almost 4,900 natural gas refueling stations, and is expected to grow to 12,000 stations by 2020. Natural gas fuels are also attractive as they typically cost around 30% less than their diesel equivalents.