Oryx Oil and Gas has opened its second lubricant blending plant in Africa. The new 18,000-metric-ton facility is located in the Togo port city of Lome and is intended help Oryx expand in West Africa.
Right now, most of our lubricant sales are in East Africa, Guillaume Desenne, lubricants director for Oryx Oil and Gas, told Lube Report. Most of the countries in West Africa are smaller markets. But we see opportunity to grow our business there, and we believe this plant will help us do that.
The new plant began operating in the middle of 2011 but its unveiling was not officially announced until ABB Cellier, the French contractor that built it, issued an announcement yesterday.
Oryx Oil and Gas is part of Addax & Oryx Group, an independent, privately held holding company based in Geneva, Switzerland. Oryx Oil and Gas is primarily a trader and marketer of fuel and other petroleum products in Africa. It operates in approximately 15 countries.
The company also operates a blending plant in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Some of the output from that plant is marketed under Oryxs own brand, but the facility also toll-blends fluids for other customers.
The Togo plant is located in a free trade zone on Lomes harbor. Desenne said it has capacity to produce 18,000 tons per year using one shift, which is how the company plans to run it for the time being. Until the new plant opened, the company was supplying West African customers with lubes that were toll-blended in France.
Oryxs lubricant business focuses on the mining industry but is also working to expand in the marine market and other parts of the industrial lubricant segment.