South Korea's SK Lubricants, together with Repsol of Spain, have announced they are ready to start official commercial production of their new 13,000 barrels per day (630,000 tons per year) API Group II and III lube base oil plant in Cartagena, the companies said at the recent ACI 2014 European Base Oils & Lubricants Summit in Alicante, Spain, on 17-18 September. Repsol will have a 30% share and SK Lubricants will own the remaining 70% share.
The new plant, located beside Repsols refinery in Cartagena, on the east cost of Spain, will use the residue of the hydrocracking units in Repsols refineries in Tarragona and Cartagena. It will have a processing capacity of 630,000 tons per year, making it the largest plant of its kind in Europe.
The plants maximum capacity consists of 3,800 bpd (185,000 tons per year) of API Group II base oil and 9,200 bpd (450,000 tons per year) of Group III base oils and can produce 3, 4, 6, and 8 cSt viscosity cuts. With an estimated total investment of EUR250 (US$320) million, the new plants production will be mainly for sale on the European market.
In November 2011, Repsol announced that it had reached an agreement with SK Lubricants to build the plant.
Madrid-based Repsol also has two Group I plants in Puertollano with the capacity to produce 2,100 bpd base oil, and a 2,900 bpd plant in Cartagena, 200 bpd of that being Group III base oil.
SK Lubricants also has a base oil plant in Ulsan, South Korea with the capacity to produce 14,000 bpd Group II and 26,000 bpd Group III base oil, and a plant in Dumai, Indonesia with the capacity to produce 10,000 Group III base oil, the later which is operated through a joint venture with state energy company Pertamina.
