According to Mike Dargento, senior market manager, the current Delo 400 formulation, which has been available since 1998, did not need reformulation to meet the latest round of specification upgrades. He noted that “to the best of our knowledge, we are the only company that will not have to reformulate” to meet the new specs.
“Product positioning and performance of this type is great news for current customers, especially those with mixed fleets that include both brand-new engines with or without EGR and older models,” said Jim McGeehan, manager of engine oil technology.
“Many competitors routinely need to reformulate after specs are determined,” McGeehan continued. “One of our primary goals is to stay ahead of industry standards—setting the pace rather than following—sop we can continually provide our customers with the best products possible.”
McGeehan noted that ChevronTexaco is already well engaged in meeting the next big oil challenge—protecting engines that will meet EPA’s even-stricter ’07 emissions regs.
“We expect those engines will use EGR plus ceramic particulate traps and NOX catalysts,” he said. “The oil needed for such engines would represent a paradigm shift. They’d probably require the use of Group II hydrocracked base stocks as well as newly engineered additive packages. And,” he added, “it’s too early to say whether the oil for ’07 engines will be backward-compatible, as Delo 400 is now.”
