ExxonMobil Lubricants and Specialties announced last week that it has landed a contract to supply turbine lubricants for the first phase of China s enormous Three Gorges Dam.
ExxonMobil officials said the agreement entails large quantities of environmentally sensitive lubes, although they declined to discuss specific figures. They added, however, that the value of the deal goes beyond the volume of products that the dam will use that the company will benefit from its association with the government and from the overall expansion of its business in China.
We feel that this is a significant contract because of our relationship with the agency in charge of the project, ExxonMobil s Don Turk said. In addition, part of our interest has been to expand our presence in the Chinese market in both the automotive and industrial segments. China is certainly a growing lubricants market, and we think we have the quality of products and level of service to meet its needs.
The dam, located on the Yangtze River in the southeastern province of Hubei, is to be the world s largest hydroelectric project, with an estimated price tag of 204 trillion yuan (U.S. $24.7 billion). The China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Development Corporation recently began blocking the flow of the river and plans to begin operating the dam next year, a decade after construction began.
ExxonMobil s new contract covers the first phase of the dam, including 14 turbines. The development corporation plans to add another 12 turbines by 2009. ExxonMobil previously won a contract to supply lubes for 248 sluice gates and 116 hoists that are part of the dam s ship lock system, and was also a major supplier of lubes used by construction equipment.
ExxonMobil and development corporation officials said the lubes used on the dam must be aquatically safe because of the need to protect species such as Chinese sturgeon and freshwater dolphin, as well as planned fisheries.