Shell opens new lubricants blending plant in China

Shell Lubricants yesterday started its newest lubricants complex in Asia to meet growing demand in China.

With a production capacity of 200 million litres a year, and the potential for a phased development to 400 million litres a year, the complex could become one of Shell's top three lubricants blending plants worldwide in volume terms.

Guangdong has been an important market for Shell Companies in China where it has made the largest single investment in the $4.1 billion Nanhai petrochemical plant in Huizhou in partnership with CNOOC.  It is also a very important market for Shell's lubricants and fuel retail businesses. Shell is a party in the consortium supplying LNG from overseas to Shenzhen.

Located in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, the blending plant will be Shell's sixth in China and will produce consumer, transport, industrial and marine lubricants, targeted at the Chinese market.

In a further development, Shell also announced new investment in a technical facility at the complex. This will offer a range of technical services including a quality control laboratory to provide key customers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the automotive industry with technical research, marketing and training services related to their lubricants applications.

''The investment in a lubricants blending plant in Zhuhai is part of Shell's strategy of selective downstream growth and allows us to support demand from local and international customers based in China, which is the world's fastest growing lubricants market," David Pirret, executive vice president, Shell Lubricants, said. "Once the technical facility at Zhuhai is completed, our customers in China will have the opportunity to experience at first hand our leading lubricants technology capability.''