ExxonMobil is opening a new supply terminal in Dagenham, United Kingdom, providing an extension in the supply chain for its API Group II base oil plant in Rotterdam.
The site is 15 miles east of London in an area known for its industrial past. The facility brings the number of distribution points in Europe to eight and is the company’s second facility in the U.K., after its Group I base oil plant in Fawley.
The American energy giant said it has signed a long-term contract to rent the terminal from Stolthaven, a terminal owner and operator and unit of London shipping and logistics company Stolt-Nielsen.
The base oil plant at ExxonMobil’s Rotterdam refinery was and remains the first large Group II plant in the European Union, with capacity of 1 million metric tons per year. Officials did not say that all of the base oil offered in Dagenham will come from Rotterdam, but suggested that much of it will.
“Coupled with our Rotterdam refinery, the new Dagenham distribution center will cover the majority of our customers’ lubricant manufacturing needs in the U.K.,” said Nick Harris, ExxonMobil Basestocks EAME sales manager and project manager for the new terminal. “The facility will enable a more direct supply chain, reduced lead time and simplified customs clearance for imported molecules, ultimately reducing complexity across the entire import process for lubricant formulators.”
The Fawley base oil plant has capacity of 407,000 t/y and is the only virgin base oil plant in the country.
Until its invasion of Ukraine, the United Kingdom imported substantial amounts of base oil from Russia, but that supply chain was halted by sanctions that the U.K and the EU imposed against Russia.