Oil major Mol plans to upgrade and/or expand its base oil plant in Szazhalombatta, Hungary, as part of a five-year capital investment program but said it was too early to reveal any details.
The company is set to invest up to U.S. $130 million by 2021 to modernize its refineries in Slovakia and Hungary. Base oil is one of the attractive product segments we are looking into when building our non-fuel strategy, Berzi Tamas, Mol Groups spokesperson, told Lube Report last week. However, the exact details about investments in this segment and types of products are not defined yet. The investment is part of a broader $1.9 billion expansion of its petrochemical business scheduled for completion by 2021.
Mol said it will continue to improve its downstream program and will take advantage of the growing demand for such profitable products as jet fuel, lubricants and base oils.
Basically, the demand for our [lubricants and base oils] production and its sales performance is growing significantly greater than the market demand, Tamas said. We see great opportunities to capture more market share in our core countries while stepping out from the Central and Eastern European region and developing our export sales even further.
Mol Chairman and CEO Zsolt Hernadi said the financial success of the companys integrated business model opened up possibilities for investment of substantial funds to further diversify its business and expand in areas that are not dependent on motor fuel demand.
Mol operates four fuel refineries – two in Croatia, one in Hungary and one in Slovakia. Its Danube Refinery in Szazhalombatta, near Budapest, has a 198,000 metric tons per year Group I base oil plant.
The company also operates an 80,000 t/y lubricants facility and technology center in Almasfuzito, northwest Hungary, where lubricant arm Mol-Lub is located. It also owns a 50,000 t/y blending plant in Zagreb, Croatia. The plant manufactures lubricants, greases, additives and automotive chemical products.
According to Mol-Lub, it does business in 40 countries and produces more than 600 different types of finished lubricants.
Mol Group
