Sea Horse Petrochemicals, one of Turkeys biggest lubricant marketers, recently broke ground on a new 600,000 tons per year blending plant, boasting it will be the biggest such production facility in Europe.
Slated to be finished by 2015, the U.S. $140 million mega lubricant blending plant will be developed in a closed area spanning 85,000 square meters, and located in Gebze industrial center, 30 miles east of Istanbul. “The plant will be one of the five biggest lubricant plants in the world. It will also be the number one mega plant in Europe,” Murat Heper, company’s foreign trade coordinator told Lube Report on Monday.
With an architectural design that resembles a vast ship partially entrenched in a hillock, the plant will be able to produce around 300 different lubricants and greases. “It will be achieved using the Matrix Manifold System, that prevents any contamination risk. The plant will employ three process reactors with capacity of 100 tons per hour each,” Heper said.
The plant will have a 10,000 t/y inline grease production facility. “It will be second biggest such facility in the world,” Heper notes. In addition, the plant will feature a cutting-edge filling and packaging line that can fill and package 20 different products at the same time.
The plant also will have the capacity to discharge 24 tanks at a time, allowing fast and flexible shipping, with a loading platform for 30 trucks as well as a filling station for four tankers for bulk truck loading. “Thanks to the bonded warehouse storing space which will be created, we will benefit in terms of storage, freight, saving time and customs clearance,” Heper said.
At the moment Sea Horse operates a 150,000 t/y blending plant located in a closed area of 7,000 square meters near Istanbul. The company produces a wide range of products that include synthetic and mineral multigrade and monograde oils, gear, transmission and hydraulic oils, motorcycle oils, antifreeze and car care products. As an independent lubricants manufacturer, the company is Turkey’s biggest exporter of automotive lubes. “We are also leaders in exporting antifreeze and engine care products,” Heper said.
The company exports to more than 66 countries in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Central Asia.
The overall finished lubricant market in Turkey totaled 450,000 metric tons in 2011, according to Kline and Co.s Global Lubricants: Market Analysis and Assessment Study. The industrial segment accounted for 44 percent of the total, commercial automotive for 43 percent and consumer automotive for 13 percent.
Kline projects 3 percent annual growth for Turkeys lubricants market from 2011 through 2016.
In terms of suppliers, Kline found that local company Petrol Ofisi (POAS) and Shell each had an overall market share of 19 percent in 2011, followed by BP with 15 percent, ExxonMobil with 10 percent, Total with 8 percent and local company, OPET, with 6 percent.