ExxonMobil is upgrading its lubricant blending plant in Tianjin, China, in response to projected long-term demand growth from Chinese customers, the company confirmed to Lube Report. The plant, which started operating in 1997, underwent a major expansion in 2014.
“ExxonMobil is introducing high grade lubricant products into the Tianjin Lubricant Plant to meet long-term demand growth from Chinese customers for Mobil-branded lubricants,” an ExxonMobil China spokesman told Lube Report. “With a long-term commitment to China, ExxonMobil expects to help meet China’s energy needs through its products, technologies, partnerships and investments.” The company has not disclosed the plant’s capacity, and whether the upgrade will increase production capacity.
As reported Sept. 26 by the news website Sinolub, ExxonMobil held a groundbreaking ceremony for the blending plant upgrade project, which will include 21 new storage tanks. Upon completion of the project, 25 types of high value-added high-end lubricating products will be introduced, the report said, with an emphasis on those that support wind power and e-vehicle applications.
The falling cost of wind turbines in China, where high coal prices caused power shortages during 2021, could represent a growth opportunity for the country’s wind industry, a study by the Global Wind Energy Council and consultancy Azure International noted. As the world’s economies reopened and recovered in 2021 from COVID-19 lockdowns, raw material and energy prices skyrocketed from the middle of 2021. China has a mid- and long-term planning target of 20% penetration for the new energy vehicle market by 2025, including battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.
A previous, multi-million-dollar expansion of the Tianjin lubricant plant, completed in 2014, increased the plant’s capacity by nearly 80%, enhancing its capability to supply a wide range of lubricants for automotive and industrial applications.
The company in March 2016 completed an expansion at its other blending plant in China, in Taicang. That expansion was to allow the company to provide its Mobil lubricants to automotive, industrial and marine applications in China.