Phillips 66 Lubricants has notified their customers in a letter that effective on January 1, 2018, Flint Hills Resources will become a non-operational partner in the 50-50 JV, and Phillips 66 will market base oils as the sole agent for Excel Paralubes.
The companies reached the agreement for Flint Hills to stop marketing the base stocks produced at its Excel Paralubes joint venture Westlake, Louisiana, plant. on October 10, 2017.
The letter, dated October 12, 2017 and signed by Ross Davidson stated "From a customer relations standpoint, you can expect the same high level of service that you are used to receiving. In addition, we believe the restructuring of the JV will enable greater agility to both respond to your product needs and provide you with new and improved quality base oil solutions".
The Excel Paralubes base oil plant in Westlake has a capacity to produce 22,200 barrels per day of API Group II base stocks. The joint venture was formed in 1997 by Conoco and Pennzoil. Conoco later merged with Phillips 66. Flint Hills, owned by of Koch Industries, bought its share of the JV from Shell in 2003 after Shell bought Pennzoil.