Total opens lubricants oil blending facility in Singapore

French oil and gas firm Total has opened a lubricants oil blending facility in Singapore.

Situated at Tuas Industrial complex, the plant is capable of producing 310,000 tonnes per year of lubricants for automotive, industrial and marine applications particularly for its customers in the Asia Pacific region.

The new plant, which is the company’s largest in the world, replaces its two existing facilities in Pandan and Pioneer.

It will increase Total’s lubricant supply in the Asia-Pacific region, which currently represents over 25% of its lubricants sales.

Total said demand for lubricants in Asia is set to increase by 18% and reach 20 million tons by 2025, which is almost half of the world’s global demand.

The lubricants industry in Asia is estimated to increase by 2.5% annually to reach $70bn by 2020, the company added.

Total executive committee member and president of marketing & services Philippe Boisseau said: "Our new Singapore lubricants hub illustrates our strategy to grow the marketing & services segment while maintaining a high profitability and contributing strongly to the Group’s financial performance.

"It will allow us to expand our position as one of the top global players in this high return business segment. Total aims to leverage its partnerships to outpace market growth in Asia, which is a key region for future energy demand."

Total Lubricants operates 45 production facilities with annual sales of around two million tonnes in 2014.