Ergon Refining, Inc., last Tuesday announced plans for a $150 million expansion at its Vicksburg, Mississippi, specialty naphthenic base oil refinery. The upgrades will include enhancements to the refinery’s crude distillation unit, modifications to its base oil hydrotreaters, and an expansion of its terminal tank farm to support new product offerings.

“These investments will allow Ergon to further diversify its product portfolio,” said Don Davis, President of Ergon Refining, Inc. “Specifically, it will allow Ergon to produce innovative, next generation low aromatic products and high quality Brightstocks.”

In addition to augmenting its current product offerings, the $150 million investment will give Ergon the capability to process an even broader range of crude oils from across the globe.

Leslie Lampton, Chairman of Ergon Refining, Inc., said, “Ergon is proud to offer our customers product lines of ever-increasing quality and security of supply. This investment in our specialty naphthenic oil refinery is part of our continual effort to fulfill customers’ needs today and into the future.”

This project will optimize capabilities installed during Ergon’s $250 million expansion in 2009. Ergon has invested over $600 million into its specialty base oil refineries in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Newell, West Virginia, over the past ten years, and continues to increase its global distribution footprint with terminals in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

In November 2012, Ergon announced plans to invest $78 million to expand its Newell subsidiary, Ergon-West Virginia Inc., to process crude oil from the Marcellus and Utica shale areas regional sources. The expansion was also expected to enable a small boost in specialty oil production from Newell’s paraffinic base oil plant.

Ergon's Newell refinery’s base oil plant has capacity to produce 4,800 bpd of paraffinic lube base oils, specifically 1,900 bpd of API Group I and 2,900 bpd of Group II paraffinic base oil, while Ergon's Vicksburg refinery presently has a capacity to produce 22,000 bpd of naphthenic lube base oils. This expansion is also expected to enable a small boost in base oil production.

Ergon Refining, Inc. is the world’s largest producer of naphthenic specialty oils. The company supplies base, process and electrical insulating oils to customers around the globe. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ergon, Inc.