Veolia Environnement and Total in April inaugurated their 55 million Osilub joint venture rerefinery in Normandy, France. Officials said the plant will have capacity to produce approximately 90,000 metric tons per year of base oils, making it Europes fourth-largest source of rerefined base oils.

Located in Gonfreville lOrcher, the facility has input capacity to process 120,000 t/y of used oil – nearly half the volume collected in France each year. Osilub said base oil output capacity is approximately 75 percent of the input capacity.

Veolia Environmental Services and the lubricants division of Total came together in 2006 to form Osilub, a joint venture focused on sustainable used oil recycling. The new facility meets the recycling priorities set by the European Unions sustainable development targets.

The Osilub plant will implement a new scraped film vacuum distilla-tion process developed by Veolia and designed to preserve the integrity of oil molecules, the statement explained. According to Veolias website, as the oil passes through a series of treatment stages, scraped film distillation sorts reusable components, removing foreign or contaminated elements. The base oil produced by the Osilub plant will be treated in specific units, including the Normandy refinery, the companies said, so it can be used in high-grade motor oils that meet the most recent specifications.

The companies did not say what grades of base oil the plant will make. Veolia Board Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Antoine Frrot said the new project will strengthen the presence of both companies in northern France. The choice of [location] was not down to chance; it reflects our deep commitment to the industrial sector in this region where we have invested almost 90 million in five years, Frrot said.

Veolia Environnement is an environmental services company headquartered in Paris with over 220,000 employees throughout locations on six continents. Total, based in Courbevoie, France, is an oil, gas, and chemical company with 97,000 employees in more than 130 countries.

Oronite Projects Move Forward

Additives manufacturer Chevron Oronite last week said it is achieving milestones in four major capital projects – two of which are located at the companys chemical manufacturing plant in Gonfreville, France.

An expansion of dispersant capacity at the Gonfreville plant is now underway and expected to be completed later this year, the company said in an 8 May statement. In addition, the company made a final investment decision in February to proceed with expansion of detergent production in Gonfreville. Officials did not disclose a schedule for that project.

The Gonfreville facility is one of Oronites three main manufacturing sites, the others being located in Singapore and Oak Point, Louisiana, United States. The other two projects discussed in May are both located in Singapore. Currently underway is an expansion that will bring the overall capacity in Singapore to twice the size that it opened with in 1999. In addition, the company is now in the front-end engineering phase of a further expansion that would increase output of carboxylate detergents.

Total Expands in South Africa

Total will expand and upgrade its lubricant blending plant in Durban, South Africa, as part of a plan to increase its market share in that country and to boost sales in neighboring nations. The changes to the blending plant are part of a broader project that includes construction of fuel storage space.

We see this as a major vote of confidence in South Africa, as well as in other countries in southern Africa, as some of the additional lubricants we will be blending will be exported to South African Development Community countries, which we see as a growth market for our lubricants, Total South Africa Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Christian des Closires said in an April statement.

Totals blending plant and existing fuel storage facilities are located at Durbans Island View Terminal. The company says it will spend a combined 140 million rand (11.3 million) on the lubricant and fuels aspects of the project, which is scheduled to be completed by 2014. The announcement came after Total and South Africas Transnet National Port Authority signed a 15-year renewal for the lease of the land on which the facilities stand.

The blending plant currently has capacity to make 35,000 t/y of lubricants when operating on one shift, as it does now. Total said the capital investment project will raise that number to 55,000 t/y. The company plans to modernize filling lines, upgrade an on-site laboratory and improve quality control measures. A spokesman told Lube Report that the benefits will include better conditions that will allow the company to introduce a second shift, thereby raising capacity to 85,000 t/y.

Management emphasized that it will take steps such as increasing lubricant inventories to ensure that deliveries from the Durban facility are not disrupted by the project. Paris-based energy giant Total owns 50.1 percent of Total South Africa. In compliance with national policies aimed at providing opportunities to black South Africans in the wake of apartheid, local shareholders own the other 49.9 percent.

Paris-based spokesman Florent Segura said Total now holds 9 percent of South Africas lubricant market but that it has set a target of raising that share to 12 percent by 2017. In addition to the domestic market, the Durban blending plant supplies lubricants that are exported to Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. The company plans to add several other markets to that list, including Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rosneft to Makes Castrol Lubes

Rosnefts Novokuibyshev oils and additives plant recently started producing marine lubes that will be marketed in Russia under BPs Castrol brand.

Under the agreement Rosneft signed with Baltic Petroleum in January, Rosneft will use BPs key brand in the next two years and is expected to produce 2.6 million liters of marine lubricants annually. Its the first time the plant is producing customized lubricants for a leading global energy company, Rosneft said in its 19 April announcement. Baltic Petroleum is a subsidiary of British oil major BP. A BP spokesperson confirmed to Lube Report that production was underway.

The Novokuibyshev plant is set to produce eight types of marine lubricants for sale on the Russian market. The finished products include cylinder oil, medium alkaline marine lubricants and motor oil with dispersive and cleaning properties.

One of the first products, Cyltech 70, provides protection against wear in marine engines that use fuel with sulfur content from 1 percent to up to 3.5 percent.

Marine lubricants are produced in a new, fully automatic blending unit and use high-viscosity feedstock coming from the companys base oil plant at the same site. The Novokuibyshev oils and additives plant recently added a new filling line that can package 1,000-liter intermediate bulk containers, Rosneft said.

The plant pioneered production of marine and locomotive oils in Russia. In the early 1970s it developed the M-14 G2CS series of marine and locomotive diesel oils, and for many years it was the only producer making such products in the Soviet Union.

In 2012 the Novokuibyshev refinery produced 386,000 tons of base oils and finished products, or almost 90 percent of Rosnefts total lubricants production, the company said in January.

Rosneft and BP earlier this year sealed a strategic partnership deal that allowed the oil majors to swap assets between each other. The deal allowed Rosneft to acquire 100 percent of the TNK-BP Russo-British joint venture for U.S. $55 billion, becoming the worlds largest listed oil company, while BP got almost a 20 percent stake of Rosneft.

JV Builds Plant in Mozambique

Malaysian lube manufacturer Hyrax Oil and Mozambiques Petroleos de Mocambique will build a joint venture lubricant blending plant in Mozambique by the end of this year. Malaysias state-run news agency, Bernama, reported in May that the plant will operate as Petromoc-Hyrax Oil International.

Hyrax said the plant will have the capacity to produce around 40,000 t/y of finished products, with room for expansion. Petromoc will prepare a site for the plant in the coastal city of Maputo, along with storage facilities at the nearby Matola port.

In Bernamas report, Hyrax officials said the plant will cater to Mozambiques market, which is estimated to consume 40,000 t/y of lubricants, but that the joint venture will also export automotive, industrial, marine and specialty lubricants across Africa. Hyrax said it is making an initial investment of 8 million in the project, which is expected to have a total price tag of 40 million.

Hyrax Oil started supplying lubricant products to Petromoc around five years ago.

Pundits Protest Lube Plant Move

Industry sources say plans to relocate a Moscow-based specialty lubricants plant to make way for a railway line could jeopardize availability of lubes and specialty fluids used by Russias shipbuilding, aerospace, aviation and pharmaceutical industries.

A local council that oversees Moscows transportation infrastructure recently asked the Russian government to relocate the small plant of Moscow Neftemaslozavod (MNMZ), the Izvestia daily reported last week.

The plant was built in 1925, located in the industrial zone Severyanin near prospekt Mira, one of the main city avenues that lead to its center. The independent specialty manufacturer is one of two suppliers for the countrys rocket, air force, navy and aerospace industries, according to people knowledgeable about the matter. Nefteprodukt is the other plant, and it is also located in Moscow.

The city is trying to bring up a case [to the federal government] for plant closure by making an excuse to put a railway route on its place. It is not the first time they have tried to relocate this lubricant plant, Oleg Tsvetkov, head of the oil and lubricants department at the All-Russia Research Institute for Oil Refining (VNIINP), told Lube Report last week. Theyve tried before, but they failed. I think it will be the same this time.

MNMZ has a special status with Russias shipbuilding, aerospace, aviation and pharmaceutical industries because it manufactures unique lubes and specialty fluids. Many industry people questioned whether the relocation effort is worthwhile, saying it could cost a lot of money and time, and cause serious shortages of supply.

For example, the plant produces VNIINP-282, a specialty grease for oxygen-breathing machines used in cosmonaut suits and developed by VNIINP, Raisa Platonova, head of the institutes special works and technical department, told Izvestia. The plant relocation could cost the city from U.S. $50 million to $100 million and the procedure could take up to five years, she said.

The institutes greases are extremely expensive by Russian standards. VNIINP-282 could cost around $4,600 per kilogram. Several distributors carry this type of grease, but only two companies manufacture it, and if Moscow Neftemaslozavods production is halted the price would rise even higher, according to some marketers.

The plant also produces greases for highly pressurized cameras used in medical labs and radiation-tolerant greases used in the Russian navy and air force.

Of course, these products can be supplied by alternative producers, but according to government regulation, when replacement of a specialty feedstock, technology or supplier takes place in the rocket, space, aviation and shipbuilding areas [which are put under special status as industry areas of national interest], the companies should perform not only bench or autonomous tests, but real-time testing as well, Platonova said.

Relocation could be very expensive. It would be cheaper to leave the plant as it is, she continued. Let them make a railway line that would pass right through the plants yard. Otherwise, [relocating] it can harm the rocket and space industry.

If the plant management makes every effort to explain the problem to the right military and industry [officials], Im assured that MNMZ would still keep its old address, Tsvetkov said.

For its part, the city government is confident that the new railway line would improve conditions on Moscows heavily congested streets near the citys railway belt by offering daily commuters alternative transportation.

A plant representative said that its management has not been informed about a possible plant relocation.

Infineum Revamps Senior Leadership

Additives maker Infineum restructured its corporate leadership in April, moving newly appointed sales and supply executive vice president Trevor Russell to Singapore.

Infineums sales and supply divisions will come together, headed by Russell, previously vice president for sales and marketing. Russells relocation to Singapore reflects the growing importance of the Asia Pacific region for Infineum.

Chris Locke, who previously managed Infineums crankcase lubricants business, will become executive vice president for the newly formed marketing and technology division.

Vice President of Supply Sara Lefcourt and Vice President of Technology Mark Struglinski will retire at the end of March.

Philippe Creteur will remain chief financial officer and executive vice president for business services, while Ross Baglin will continue as executive vice president for human resources.

Infineums four executive vice presidents will work alongside Chief Executive Officer Xavier le Mintier as the new corporate leadership team.

Through this restructuring, we have put in place an organization that is more agile and flexible, allowing us to increase our speed to market with new innovations whilst maintaining the operational and supply excellence our customers value, said le Mintier. I am particularly pleased to announce the movement of an EVP position to Asia, reflecting both the importance of this region and Infineums commitment to it.

Set up in 1999, Infineum, headquartered in Milton Hill, U.K., is a joint venture between ExxonMobil and Shell.