Who are we?

Infineum is one of the world's leading formulators, manufacturers and marketers of petroleum additives for the fuels and lubricants industry. Set up in January 1999, Infineum is a 50/50 joint venture between ExxonMobil and Shell, bringing their respective Additives Divisions (Paramins and Shell Additives) together. Our customers are Oil and Fuel marketers worldwide.

"Infineum brought together the very best of Paramins and Shell Additives," said Tony Gaskell, Infineum CEO, at the start-up of the new company. "Infineum brings together people, technologies and products, to offer customers a flexible product range supported by worldwide R&D and production facilities. Infineum is driven by its mission: to deliver innovative chemistry and business solutions to our fuels and lubricant customers for our mutual benefit, and plans to build on its first 70 years of history," he added.

Moving forward into the new millennium, the company is shaping itself to increase its customer focus, develop new business opportunities with differentiated technology, and become more cost competitive. With a global structure and worldwide resourcing, Infineum not only has strategically located manufacturing facilities globally, but three regionally placed Business Centres in the UK, USA and Singapore. Infineum conducts its business in more than 20 working languages, 18 different currencies and has sales representation in more than 70 countries. With a global supply chain, multicultural business teams and highly skilled and dedicated colleagues, Infineum is a truly world-class organisation.

Pour Point Depressants (PPDs) were first manufactured here at the Bayonne Refinery

Where we have come from

It is now over 70 years since Garland HB Davis, an employee of The Standard Oil company of New Jersey (today ExxonMobil) filed a patent for 'a new composition of matter - an invention for improved methods for the production of high grade lubricating oils'. This invention now commonly known as a Pour Point Depressant (PPD), was the birth of the global lubricant additives industry, as we know it today, with a turnover of several billion US dollars.

In the early years, production of additives was primarily for use in lubricants sold by Esso, as was later the case with products developed by the Shell organisation. Esso recognised the market potential of their products and consequently formed Paramins in the late 1940s to develop, manufacture and market their additives to other lubricant companies. This move helped to raise the standards of lubricants and allow the benefits of improved fuel economy and emissions reduction globally. By the early 1970s Shell International Chemical Company had also begun to market additives to oil companies outside the Shell organisation.

Major technological developments continued within both companies with products being formulated to do specific tasks, such as anti-oxidation and anti-wear performance within the engine. Later came ashless dispersants to keep soot suspended in the oil, and metal detergents, which were particularly good at neutralising acids from combustion.

In the 1980s, there was a huge growth in the use of additives to reduce deposit forming tendencies in fuel systems, both for gasoline and diesel fuelled vehicles. Initially carburettor deposits were the greatest concern, but as fuel injectors were introduced in gasoline-engined passenger cars, it soon became clear that additives were needed to maintain these systems' fine tolerances. This concern has grown even stronger in recent years, as in many countries the motor industry is now required by law to maintain exhaust emissions control durability for 80,000 km or longer.

In the late 1990s the demise of lead additives prompted a short-term demand for lead replacement additives in gasoline for older engines. An even bigger market has developed for lubricity additives in diesel fuel, driven entirely by environmental considerations. As diesel sulphur is reduced to minimise Sulphur Oxide production, fuel loses its natural lubricity, threatening catastrophic damage to fuel pumps. Lubricity additives became essential and Infineum's parent companies both had strong product offerings in this field. Today's management has the pleasant challenge of making the best from their respective technologies.