Total Vostok LLC, a subsidiary of Total in Russia, last Monday announced the construction of a plant for the production, storage and shipment of motor oils and lubricants and related materials in Freight Village Vorsino in the Kaluga region, in the European part of Russia.
Anatoly Artamonov, Governor of the Kaluga Region, and Fabien Voisin, CEO Total Vostok, signed an agreement on cooperation in the realization of the investment project of construction of the future plant, scheduled for launch in 2018.
The total investment will amount to $50 million. Initial production capacity of the plant will be 40,000 tons per year, and with the growth of sales volume it may be increased to 75,000 tons annually.
Russia has been Totals strategic partner for more than 20 years, and this project proves that we are not only interested in investments related to hydrocarbon exploration and production but in such endeavors as production and marketing of petrochemical products, Total Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanne said during a plenary session of Russias Foreign Investment Advisory Council on Monday in Moscow. The council is chaired by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Russia is the worlds fifth-largest lubricant market, and thanks to this project, Total expects to accelerate its development here by strengthened presence and a continuing growth, Pouyanne said.
The plant will produce a wide range of lubricants for the automotive industry and for other industries (energy, iron and steel, mining, etc.): Quartz line of oils for passenger cars, Rubia heavy duty diesel engine oils, Azolla and Equivis hydraulic oils, and Seriola and Carter industrial oils.
The production will utilize the most advanced technology in the field of automatic component mixing systems, the loading of the finished product and high-speed cooling, sophisticated storage infrastructure and quality control in the laboratory said the press release.
The plant will be located in an area of 7 hectares in the Freight Village Vorsino, perfectly fit into the infrastructure of roads and railways, which will ensure the supply of lubricants not only to the Russian market, but also for export, for example, in Central Asia and Belarus. The plant is expected to provide 50 new jobs.
George Morvey, Industry Manager Energy, Kline's Energy Practice, Parsippany, NJ, told OEM/Lube News "Kline pegs the Russian lube market at about 1,650 KT in 2015, split 54% automotive and 46% industrial. Klines market share estimates for the overall market for 2015 are as follows (% of total market share): Lukoil 28%, Rosneft 20%, Gazpromneft-Lubricants 18%, Shell 2%, ExxonMobil 2%, Total 2%, all others (Bashneft, BP, Idemitsu, SK Lubricants, SCT (Mannol, Pemco, Fanfaro), Liqui Moly, Delfin Group, Fuchs Petrolub SE, and JX Nippon) 26%". Russia is the fifth largest lubricants market in the world.
Total Vostok, a subsidiary of the French oil and gas group Total, which supplies to the Russian market automotive lubricants and industrial fluids under the brands of TOTAL and ELF, a wide range of industrial oils and greases, as well as specialty chemicals, additives for fuels and special fuels since 1993 . Today Total with representation "Total Vostok, created in 2008, represents the 6th place in Russia finished lubricant supply.
Total produces and sells in more than 150 countries of the world oil trademarked TOTAL and ELF for cars, motorcycles, agricultural machinery, trawlers, road engineering, aviation and special oils for the industry and the Navy.