SK Lubricants, the base oil unit of South Korean refiner SK Innovation, has launched what it describes as the country's first "carbon offset" lubricants that it will start supplying in October.

SK Lubricants has purchased carbon credits to offset carbon emissions from the production, transportation, consumption and disposal of three types of premium low-viscosity engine oil, according to SK Innovation on 7 September. SK Lubricants has a production capacity of 26,000 b/d of the Group III premium grade .

This indicates that SK Lubricants is committed to cutting scope one, two and three greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from these products. Scope one emissions cover GHG from direct operational activities and scope two emissions are from the energy consumed to carry out those activities. Scope three emissions are from the use of the company's products, including waste disposal.

The carbon credits used are natural-based, high-quality carbon credits certified by voluntary carbon credit certification agency Verra, according to SK Innovation. The credits were obtained from the Guanare reforestation project in Uruguay, which is expected to absorb a total of 7.8mn t of GHGs.

"We will monitor the results of the launch and also apply carbon neutrality on high-end premium lubricants later," said a SK Lubricants official.

The launch comes on the back of lubricant industry leaders agreeing in May that the sector needs an industry methodology to measure its carbon footprint.

There is currently no technology available to completely eliminate carbon emissions in the manufacturing processes, SK Innovation said, adding that it is also difficult to replace fuels and raw materials with renewable energy and naturally-derived raw materials in a short period of time.

But SK Lubricants plans to continue efforts to directly reduce carbon emissions. It is considering measures such as increasing the content of high-density polyethylene for container recycling.

SK Lubricants has since last year used eco-friendly containers for its best-selling products, which account for 30pc of its lubricant products volume, with recycled plastic accounting for 20pc of the raw materials used for the containers. The company also signed in July a multilateral business agreement for a "waste lubricant recycling business" with domestic waste lubricant collection and refining companies and the country's trade, industry and energy ministry.