Quaker State Bids Farewell to Cans

Quaker State Oil Refining Corp. has opened a new plant in Carson that will produce motor oil in plastic bottles, the last step in the company’s phase-out of cardboard cans as containers for its lubricants.

The plant, which employs 65 workers, will produce as many as 37.5 million bottles of oil a year, using lubricant brought in to the company’s Long Beach terminal from its refineries in Pennsylvania. The plant replaces an older facility at Terminal Island, where the lubricant was packaged in cans.

The company, which is based in Oil City, Pa., will also consolidate other Los Angeles-area operations at the plant, including its regional distribution center and its West Coast administrative staff, which previously had been based in Pasadena.

Quaker State, the nation’s leading producer of automotive motor oil, began converting its four U.S. plants from cardboard cans to plastic bottles in 1984, after it realized the popularity of the containers among consumers. Adding motor oil to a car’s engine from a can requires an oil spout or other tool to open the container and sometimes a funnel to pour it into the crankcase. The plastic bottles have screw-top lids and a long neck, allowing the customer to pour the fluid into the engine without a funnel. By replacing the lid, the motorist can store any remaining lubricant without fear of spilling the oil.