Singaporean environmental services provider Hyflux Ltd. recently announced two separate agreements to form joint ventures that will build used-oil recycling plants in Vietnam and in the Philippines. Each joint venture is subject to approval by governmental authorities, and Hyflux did not announce expected completion dates for the plants.
Each plant will use Hyfluxs membrane-based recycling technology and is expected to have capacity to process and recycle up to 12,000 metric tons of used oil per year to produce lubricating base oil.
On Oct. 22, Hyflux said its subsidiary Eflux Singapore Pte. Ltd. signed a joint venture agreement with Tao Commodity Trader Inc., a subsidiary of Tao Corp., to invest $12 million to build a used-oil recycling plant near Calaca, Batangas in the Philippines.
Under the agreement, Tao Commodity Trader will own 30 percent of the joint venture. Tao, which was established in 1995 as a molasses trading business, ventured into fuel and lubricants trading beginning in 2001. It is a commercial and marine distributor of Pilipinas Shell. Tao Commodity Trader and Eflux Singapore will also form a special purpose joint venture corporation for investing in the property where they will construct the plant. Eflux Singapore will hold 40 percent of property, and Tao the remainder.
This is our seventh used-oil joint venture, this time in the Philippines, a new footprint for the company, said Hyflux Group Chief Executive Officer and President Olivia Lum.
On Oct. 15, Hyflux subsidiary Eflux Singapore signed a joint venture agreement with Success Blossom Environment Vietnam Joint Stock Co. to invest $10.5 million to build a used-oil recycling plant near Hanoi, Vietnam.
The agreement calls for Success Blossom to own 40 percent of the joint venture. Success Blossom was formed by the Success Blossom Group of Companies, which is active in the petroleum trading and bunkering business in Asia, and Van Dao Co., Ltd., which collects, recycles and sells lubricants and grease in Vietnam.
The execution of this Vietnam joint venture signifies a further affirmative step taken by Hyflux in the used-oil recycling business since the announcement of our Saudi Arabia joint venture some five months ago, said Lum. This joint venture would no doubt open doors for Hyfluxs expansion into other parts of Southeast Asia.
In May, Hyflux and Saudi lubricating oil recycler Lubrec signed an agreement to cooperate with Saudi Economic Development Co. on building a used-oil recycling plant in Jeddah, Saudia Arabia at a cost of 45 million Singaporean dollars (U.S. $30.9 million). That plant, with processing capacity of about 24,000 metric tons per year, is scheduled to open during the first half of 2008.