Oil Refinery Modrica has begun expansion of its API Group III base oil plant and construction of a new lubricant blending plant, the company said last week. Scheduled to be completed in 2014, the project will increase the Bosnia and Herzegovina refinerys base oil capacity to 200,000 metric tons per year.
The Modrica refinery operates under the trademark Nestro and is owned by the Russian joint stock company Zarubezhneft. The refinery began making Group III oils in 2009 after repairing a refinery that was damaged 17 years earlier during the Bosnian War.
It currently has capacity to make 52,000 t/y of Group III, and uses some of the output to make its own lubricants while selling the rest to other marketers. The facility is the only Group III source in southeastern Europe.
Current production from our base oil plant is not able to keep up with rising demands from the market, General Manager Pero Dugic told Lube Report. These investments will make us more competitive in the base oil and lubricant markets to allow us to increase our market shares.
The base oil expansion and blending plant are part of a broader investment plan by Zarubezhneft. The blending plant is designed for a capacity of 45,000 t/y. Dugic said it is larger and more automated than the companys existing blending facilities, and will allow it to compete with other European suppliers in terms of quality and efficiency.
After the base oil expansion is finished, Nestro will produce six viscosity grades of base oil – 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 13 centiStokes. All except the first will be classified as Group III.