The Saudi Gazette reported last Wednesday that after six years of successful operations in the Kingdom, Saudi Total Lubricants Co. (SATLUB) inaugurated its own state-of-the-art blending plant in the Industrial Valley in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), located 120 km north of Jeddah.

Equipped with a fully automated blending system and ultra modern filling machines, the 65,000 square meter facility will produce automotive and industrial lubricants and will have an annual production capacity of 25,000 metric tons in a single shift.

"This is a major step toward improving the company's efficiency so that we can be the first choice in the Saudi market. With the establishment of this plant, the company aims to enhance its opportunities for growth in Saudi Arabia. The decision to establish this plant was based on a thorough study of the growing lubricants market in KSA, which is propelled by one of the fastest-growing and most stable economies in the world," said Momar Nguer, Senior Vice President of Africa/Middle East, Total Marketing & Services, on the occasion of the inauguration.

Waleed Y. Zahid, CEO of Zahid Group Holding, explained that "the opening of the plant is another milestone that demonstrates the synergies between Zahid Group and Total. Both partners are committed to providing local customers with superior products and services, while creating more job opportunities for qualified Saudis."

Nizar Raydan, Managing Director of Saudi Total Lubricants Co., added "the decision to invest at KAEC was governed by a variety of reasons. The first of these is direct access to a huge seaport that has immense potential. The second is that KAEC has a highly developed basic infrastructure and very advanced utilities. Therefore, we decided to make KAEC one of our main supply lines in the region."

The Group entered the downstream sector in the Kingdom in 2007 by partnering with Zahid Holding Group to form SATLUB joint venture, responsible for the manufacture and marketing of lubricants and specialty products.

Total, with 97,000 employees, has operations in more than 130 countries and is also a world-class chemical producer.