Bahrain launchpad for MAK

Indian petroleum giant Bharat Petroleum (BP) yesterday launched MAK lubricants in Bahrain in partnership with Bahrain Commercial Services Company. BP also announced its decision to launch its entire range of lubricants for automotive and industrial applicants in the Kingdom. 

“Presence of good local partner and right mix of automotive and industrial customers prompted the company to make Bahrain its launch country for MAK lubricants in the Middle East,” the company said, revealing that MAK will also be launched in Qatar with the same group. The lube range will also be made available in other Middle East countries in the coming few months.  

In an exclusive interview to DT News, Kurian P Chandy, Executive Director (Lubes), Bharat Petroleum said that research and development (R&D) of tailor-made high quality products, according to the market requirements, is the biggest strength of Bharat Petroleum. The company targets to enter Middle East in a big way, and is counting on its proven research and development capabilities to provide better products at a more competitive rate.

“The company has a R&D centre exclusively for lubricants in Mumbai, India. Also, Bharat Petroleum is the first Indian company to receive the approval to produce reference material for laboratory calibration, earlier it had to be bought from a few international organisations

“The experience gained from competing with international players in South Asia and gaining market share will help the company to make good strides in GCC. Many lubricants companies including international companies buy a large share of their base-oil requirements from Bharat Petroleum. The company is one of the biggest manufactures of base oil in Asia pacific. Base oil is the fundamental ingredient for producing lubricants.

“Our base oil is of the highest grade, and is at par with international companies. That is our fundamental strength,” he added.

“In South Asia, Bharat Petroleum is one of the biggest providers for specialty lubricants: tailor-made for specific industry purposes and requires high-level of research input. Most of the industries, from Steel, coal, mining, or even sugar cane require specialty lubricants. The company also serves a major portion of tailor-made specialty lubricants for Indian Railways,” Chandy said.

Atul Khanwalkar Senior Manager – Exports (Lubes), Bharat Petroleum said that the company also provides to defence sector in India, including to Bangalore based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the makers of Tejas, a major attraction during the  recent Bahrain Airshow.

Gowtham G, General Manager, Bahrain Commercial Services said that the company will be hiring people for various roles in the new venture. “We are confident that this partnership will allow us to deliver best quality products to Bahrain.  We don’t have any constraints regarding targeted growth or the number of employees, and we will be pushing for doing the best. Our industry requires many people to educate the customers, hence hiring will be in place for technical and sales positions.”

Chandy and Gowtham added that Bharat Petroleum along with Bahrain Commercial Services will explore further areas of collaboration and cooperation in Bahrain in coming years.