Ghanas Tema Lube Oil Co. is progressing on a three-phase blending plant expansion project to double its lubricant production capacity from about 22,500 metric tons per year to 45,000 t/y, a company official told Lube Report.
Tema Lube Oil Managing Director Amos Donkor specified in a press statement that some of the projects to be undertaken aim to improve layout of the lube blending plant; de-bottleneck congestion on production floor; and increase warehousing space.
The company will carry out the facilitys upgrade in three stages over a period of four years. The first stage will run from 2017 to mid-2019, the second stage from 2019 to 2020 and the last stage from 2020 to mid-2021, said Donkor.
At the 2017 ICIS African Conference in Ghana he hinted that Tema Lube Oil was considering upgrades to its blending capacity to enable the company to produce higher grade lubricants,but noted that it was subject to the approval of its stakeholders. We dont have [API] Group II base oils here in Ghana, but we have finished lubes, like the synthetic oils, that are blended with Group II. Our shareholders will give the approval after we have discussed [it] with the customers because we have to make the preparation for the transition from the use [of] Group I to Group II, Donkor told Lube Report at the conference.
Tema Lube Oil, Ghanas leading lubricant blender, is owned by the following shareholders: Social Security & National Insurance Trust of Ghana, Shell & Vivo Lubricants BV, Ghana Oil Co., Total Petroleum Ghana Ltd., ENI International BV and two Total subsidiaries – Total Outre Mer SA and Total (Africa) of France Ltd. Tema Lube Oil primarily blends lubricants for multinational oil companies and some local players on the Ghana lubricant market.