Shell broke ground last week on the new building and storage facility that will house the capacity expansion of its 180,000-tons-per-year blending plant in Russia, the company told Lube Report on Monday.
The foundations of the building are complete, and a crane is raising the steel framework.
“A temporary infrastructure for realization of the construction work is set in place, and work is ongoing for installation of the electrical and communication networks as well as construction of the warehouse,” a Shell Neft spokesperson said.
The company is Royal Dutch Shell’s subsidiary in Russia.
Located in Torzhok, 240 kilometers northwest of Moscow, the plant will be Shell’s second-largest lubricant production facility. The company decided to expand the facility to 270,000 t/y because of strong sales in Russia and in the region. The project carries a price tag of 6 billion rubles (U.S. $84 million), and the expanded facility is scheduled to open in 2023.
The products manufactured there are primarily intended for the Russian market. The plant, operated by a workforce of 150, supplies 80% of Shell’s lubricants sold in Russia and some neighboring markets.
Shell’s largest lubricants production site is a facility in Hamburg, Germany, with capacity to produce 540,000 tons of finished products annually.