United Kingdom-based Exol Lubricants announced it has begun redevelopment of its Rotherham site to increase lubricant blending capabilities, with completion expected in July. The company attributed the project to rising consumer demand for its products.
Part of the independent lubricant manufacturer’s continued reinvestment strategy, the project will replace an existing portal frame building with a larger portal frame building. This will house additional blending vessels and storage tanks, the company said.
The new building will have a 37% larger footprint than the existing one, increasing from 380 square meters to 520 square meters. It will also have a 79% taller ridge height – increasing to 12.5 meters from 7 meters – to house the new 9.5-meter blending/storage tanks “to further help with consistency of supply, bulk storage for increased production volumes, accuracy, infrastructure and product diversification,” Exol said in a press release.
Exol Lubricants, which says it is the U.K.’s largest independently owned oil blender, said it sells 80 million liters of oil every year.
The company supplies lubricants and associated products for automotive, marine, off-highway, agricultural, rail and industrial applications manufactured at its head office and production facility in West Midlands as well as its bulk blending plant in Rotherham. In 2016, the company invested in packaging equipment at the West Midlands facility, adding two filling machines with capacity to fill packages of 20, 25, 60, 205 and 1,000 liters. In 2013, the company invested more than €2 million (then U.S. $2.6 million) to redevelop the head office and manufacturing site.
United States-based research company The Freedonia Group in early 2018 found that BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Total, Exol Lubricants, Morris Lubricants and Comma were the United Kingdom’s top seven suppliers, accounting for roughly three-quarters of U.K. automotive lubricant demand.
Freedonia estimated that engine oils accounted for 72% of the U.K.’s lubricant market in 2016. Of that 64% was used in light-duty vehicles, 15% in medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and up to 12% were used in off-highway equipment.