Taiwan's CPC Corporation and Shell Lubricants Co. have decided to permanently shut down their 250,000 tons per year (5,000 barrels per day) Group I joint venture lube base oil refinery and lube blending plant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

The plants are operated by CPC-Shell Lubricants Corp. (CSLC), a joint venture between CPC (49%) and Shell (51%). Established in 1963, CSLC is located at CPC’s Kaohsiung Refinery and produces mainly base oils and lubricants.

Mary Walsh, Shell spokesperson, told OEM/Lube News "I can confirm that the CPC-Shell joint venture - CPC Shell Lubricants Corp. (CSLC) will close its base oil plant in November 2014 and its lubricants blending plant in February 2015. CPC is the operator."

"This closure is in line with the announced government decision to close the Kaohsiung Oil Refinery (KOR) complex in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan by the end of 2015. The JV is located in that complex." said Walsh.

CPC Corp is also proceeding with a planned closure of its 200,000 bbl/day Kaohsiung crude refinery.

“Evaluations showed that the facility is aging and uneconomical for further operations,” a source at CPC's operation department said.

One of the reasons for the plant closures is environmental concern over air quality by local residents. There were discussions about relocating the complex to Indonesia or Malaysia, but no announcements have been made on these plans.

The Kaohsiung complex started operations in 1946.

In addition to this Kaoshiung refinery, CPC also operates a 200,000 bbl/day refinery at Taoyuan and a 300,000 bbl/day refinery at Dalin. The Dalin Refinery was split off from the Kaohsiung operation to become independent in 1996. The Taoyuan Refinery, which was established in 1976, currently has a daily capacity of 200,000 barrels of crude oil.