According to the Tampa Bay Times, NexLube Tampa's plans to build a used oil reprocessing facility at Port Tampa Bay are back on track, years after cost overruns had halted construction.

 

Company officials had announced in November 2013 that construction of NexLube's $120 million (originally planned $75 million) 24.000.000 gallon used oil recycling plant on Pendola Point at the Port of Tampa is on hold because of financial problems. The company said the cost of finishing construction had doubled.

 

Now, the facility, which was 60% complete when construction was halted, could be up and running by the middle of 2018, port documents show.  The joint venture plans to produce 20,000 gallons per year of API Group II and III lube base oils in three viscosity grades: 85, 150 and 330, as well as finished automotive and industrial lubricants, technical white oils and other products.

 

Before construction stopped, the company had mostly finished the infrastructure of the facility, including a 56,000-square-foot factory, 20,000-square-foot office building and 30 storage tanks.

 

NexLube has now reached a deal with the German oil processor Puralube for a joint venture to run the factory and to help pay for the rest of the work. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but they are expected to close on the deal by the end of May.

 

The two companies will ask the port's board for permission next week to transfer NexLube's 20-year, $10 million lease to the joint venture, dubbed Puraglobe Florida LLC. Records show the company was incorporated last Monday in Delaware.

 

In mid 2012, NexLube Tampa LLC announced that it started building the re-refinery and blending plant and office building on 12.3 acres at the port's Pendola Point, signing a 20-year lease with the port authority.

 

When the NexLube deal was first announced in 2012, it was expected to create up to 75 high-paying jobs and 100 indirect jobs in the Tampa Bay area.

 

NexLube Tampa LLC is a Florida-based company operating out of Boca Raton Florida. NexLube opened in February 2010.

 

Puralube Inc. is based in Wayne, Pennsylvania. Frankfurt, Germany-based Puralube GmbH is a subsidiary of Puralube Inc.