Playing Base

What have been the main achievements of Iranol Oil Company in the past two years?

Considering our vision, mission, strategies, and values, Iranol Oil Company has become a leading company in producing base oils, engine oils, and industrial and automotive lubricants. We have two refineries. Tehran refinery has an annual capacity of 250,000 tons of various grades of base oils, and the other is Abadan refinery with the annual capacity of 50,000 tons. Considering furfural extract (RPO) and other side products used in finished heavy oil products, this brings our total yearly production to over 600,000 tons per year for both domestic and overseas consumption. This equals total sales of almost $650 million per year. Our total exports equal $250 million. We produce the highest quality oil for gasoline and diesel engines, as well as industrial oil including, hydraulic oil, compressor oil, gear oil, circulating oil, transformers, and many other industrial lubricants. In total, we offer over 180 types of different products. Some of our latest high-quality diesel and gasoline oils are Iranol Power, Iranol Top Engine, Iranol D-40000, Iranol D17000, Iranol Ronia, Iranol Royal, and Iranol Hyper. There are many others that have been approved for use in engines manufactured by Man, Volvo, and Renault, for example. We are considered one of the leading lubricant companies in Iran in terms of our R&D, customer service, sales, and revenue. That’s because we anticipate a bigger share of the domestic market and continue satisfying our major internal clients with quality products and outstanding service.

How will your market share evolve?

Our philosophy is to provide good quality products that must come at an affordable price. Therefore, our strategy is based on the best quality production for the best comparable price. That’s what we’re doing to increase our market share considerably. We don’t produce additives, but we generally import them according to our needs. We use about 50 different types of additives, especially for industrial lubricants such as turbines and compressors. Importing additives may be costly sometimes, but it’s never been a serious problem. A high-quality additive makes for better final products. We’re working to import those additives to keep us competitive. Our strong R&D department and laboratories with 15 highly educated experts are developing new products. We have a quality control department, to make sure everything is checked and controlled for the best quality production. Our sales department with its highly quality staff can offer the best to our esteemed customers.

How many employees do you have in total?

We have over 520 employees at our refinery in Tehran, and 200 in Abadan. Our central office in Teheran also has around 85 people. In total we have around 850 employees that are highly trained and skilled.

What is your best-selling product internationally, and which countries do you trade with the most?

We export base oils and recently started to export rubber process oil. Of the base oils, we export around 250,000 tons a year. We export 60,000 to 70,000 tons from Abadan, and we also export the heavy base oils SN-500 and SN-650 from Tehran. This is all base oil and sometimes we have excess. In 2012, we’ve started exporting furfural extracts, a new project for which we have a license. We mainly export to South Asia and especially India, as well as the UAE and China.

Do you export raw materials or processed oils?

In the past we haven’t been active in exporting finished products, but we have carried out an extensive marketing campaign for exporting finished products. We do export finished products to some of our neighboring countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, as well as other CIS countries. We also are testing a handful of markets in Africa and South America.

What other projects are you currently working on?

In addition to our research on new products, we have an R&D committee for special products. So far, its members have developed an extract for rubber processing firms and a side product that is environmentally friendly and enjoys 50,000 tons consumption annually.

© The Business Year – November 2012