Petronas Lubricants to build lube blending plant in India

Petronas Lubricants International (PLI), the lubricants manufacturing and marketing arm of Malaysia’s national oil and gas company PETRONAS, said it will build a lube blending plant at a cost of USD50 million in the Patalganga area near Mumbai, India.
The company has signed a joint land lease agreement with Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) for a lubricant blending plant with an initial capacity of 60,000 tons per annum capacity in the first phase, which can be expanded to 120,000 tons in the second phase.
The first phase of the planned investment is expected to be completed by the end of 2015. The company already has a marketing and distributorship presence in India.
“Since our venture into India in 2006, we have charted a five-year cumulative annual growth rate of more than 57%, through the support of our distributors and business partners here,” said Giuseppe Pedretti, Asia Regional Head of PLI.
“Now that we have a good footing in the market, we are ready to take the next step towards establishing Petronas’ lubricants business and brand in India – and this involves investing into building facilities that will support our supply chain network, as well as developing people to work with us in both manufacturing and marketing lubricants here,” said Pedretti.
Bhushan Gagrani, CEO of MIDC, said that all assured cooperation would be extended from the side of MIDC and the Maharashtra government. “The investment being in US dollars will bring in more value to their final landed investment due to the devalued rupee and this must be capitalized by other foreign investors as well,” said Gagrani.