Shell Lubricants' Zhuhai plant goes on stream
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Shell Lubricants said yesterday production had started at its lubricants complex in Guangdong province's Zhuhai, its newest in Asia, which was set up to meet growing demand in China.
With a production capacity of 200 million liters a year, and the potential for a phased development to 400 million liters annually, the complex could become one of Shell's top three lubricant blending plants worldwide in terms of volume.
The plant will be Shell's sixth in China and will produce consumer, transport, industrial and marine lubricants targeted at the domestic market.
"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," said David Pirret, executive vice-president for Shell Lubricants.
In a separate development, Shell announced additional investment in a technical facility at the complex.
"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," Pirret said.
Statistics show that demand for lubricants in China is forecast to grow by around 3.5 percent on a yearly basis to 2013, making it the fastest growing market in the world ahead of India.
Already, demand for lubricants in China was estimated at 5.5 million tons last year, making it the second-largest lubricants market in the world behind the United States.
Currently, Shell is the largest lubricants supplier among the international oil companies present in China with a 10-percent market share, followed by the ExxonMobil from the US.
Shell currently supplies lubricants to eight out of the top 10 automakers in China as well as 47 of the top 50 steelmakers.
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