SK builds Europe’s largest lubricant base oil plant

South Korea’s SK Group, in partnership with Spain’s largest oils and gas company Repsol, is geared to expand its presence in Europe with the construction of the region’s largest lube base oils production facilities in Cartagena, Spain.

SK Lubricants -- the conglomerate’s lube base oils producing unit -- held a ceremony at the plant’s site Tuesday to mark the completion of the new facilities, established by the Iberian Lube Base Oils Company -- a 7:3 joint venture between SK Lubricants and Repsol.

The ceremony was attended by SK chairman Chey Tae-won, Repsol chairman and CEO Antonio Brufau and a number of other high government and company officials.

“The largest joint venture between a Korean and Spanish company has reaped success with the construction of the largest lubricant base oils production plant in Europe,” said the SK chairman, vowing to “continue searching for new areas for business collaboration in diverse sectors, including oil and energy, to create synergy effects.”

“Despite widespread uncertainties in the global oil industry, this project was made possible with our reliable partner SK. We hope this partnership can continue to advance to establish a variety of other cooperative businesses models in the future,” said the Repsol chairman.

ILBOC’s new plant, which began full operations in Oct. 2014 after a two-year construction period, was built with an investment of around 3.3 billion euros ($3.7 million).

Boasting an annual production capacity of 630,000 tons of premium lubricant base oils, the plant is set to pave the way for SK to gain a stronger foothold to produce and supply its lube base oils in Europe, the world’s largest market for premium lube base oils.

“The plant is the outcome of a strategic business model which combines SK’s technology and marketing expertise with Repsol’s raw material procurement and infrastructure,” said a SK Lubricants representative. 

With the addition of the new Cartagena plant, SK’s total annual lube base oils production volume now reaches 3.5 million tons, making it the third-largest producer of premium lubricant base oils following global oil companies ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell.

Meanwhile, Chey is set to continue his commitment to establishing strategic partnerships with global companies in Europe until the end of September.

The SK chairman will make his way to the Netherlands to visit ASML, a global producer of semiconductor parts and subsequently head to Switzerland to discuss cooperation opportunities with Trafigura, the world’s third-largest crude oil and petroleum trader.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)