Q8 Oils is in the midst of building a new lubricant blending plant at the site of an existing plant in Antwerp, Belgium, officials said recently. The new facility, expected to open by the end of 2014, is designed to have 125,000 metric tons per year capacity.
Officials said the plant is part of a broader plan to add storage capacity and increase the range of lubricants that the site can produce.
Q8 Oils is the operating name for Kuwait Petroleum International Lubricants, a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corp., the state-owned energy company of Kuwait. Q8 Oils officials discussed the Antwerp project in response to questions from Lube Report. Manufacturing Director Geert Matton said the first blending vessels and storage tanks are scheduled to be installed during the second quarter of this year.
The company is adding storage tanks for both raw materials and finished products. It is also re-engineering its blending process using piggable equipment that will provide a higher level of automation, improving efficiency and quality of operations.
Last fall Q8 announced that the new blending and storage facilities will cost 63 million (U.S. $82.5 million).
The Antwerp facility is the biggest of three blending plants operated by Q8 Oils. The others are in Milan, Italy, and Leeds, United Kingdom.