Opet-Fuchs will build a blending plant in Turkey expected to open in 2013, with initial capacity of 50,000 metric tons per year. The joint venture, established in 2005, acquired Opets lubricants business effective Jan. 2.
Opet-Fuchs General Manager Murat Seyhan said at a Jan. 11 news conference that the $25 million blending plants first phase will be completed by the end of 2013. A second phase will later increase capacity to 75,000 tons per year. The new plant is expected to replace an existing one.
The acquisition includes the divisions 176 employees and an existing blending plant in Izmir. Fuchs automotive oils will now be manufactured and sold in Turkey by Opet Fuchs, according to Seyhan.
Including Opets lubricants business, the joint venture generated 80 million (U.S. $101.8 million) in sales revenues for 2011. This acquisition means that all lubricant activities of the partners operating in Turkey are now incorporated within the joint venture, Fuchs said in a statement.
Bringing together the know-how and technological infrastructure in automotive and industrial products of Fuchs, which has more than 10,000 formulations and a wide distribution network, and the sales power Opet has in Turkey, we aim to be a market leader both for automotive and industrial oils in a short time, Seyhan said.
Citing PetDer data, Opet-Fuchs said it was Turkeys market leader during the October 2010 to October 2011 period, with a 31 percent market share in multigrade gear oils and a 38 percent share in metal processing oils and liquids.
Opet-Fuchs expects to have a market share of about 41,000 tons, or about 12 percent, of Turkeys projected 350,000-ton lubricants market in 2012.
Opet, a joint venture of the Koc Group and the Ozturk family, is the third largest mineral oil company in Turkey and operates more than 1,200 filling stations. Opet-Fuchs was formed with Mannheim, Germany-based independent lubricant blender Fuchs Petrolub AG in 2005.