The Lubricants Sector.

The lubricants business in Dubai has expanded over the past two decades. A 30,000 t/y plant came on stream in 1987 as the first downstream facility in the emirate. It was built at a cost of $12m by Middle East Lubricants Co. (Melubco), a JV between BP Middle East (BPME) and Jebel Ali International Lubricants Co. (Jelubco). The venture produces 75 types of lube oils - mostly for engine, industrial and hydraulic applications. Its output is sold in the UAE and in other GCC states.

In February 1993 EMA Lubricants bought 50% in Melubco under a deal which provided for the capacity to be expanded to 50,000 t/y by end-1993 and for base oil storage capacity to be increased from 7,500 tons to 12,000 tons.

Another lubricants producer is Caltex al-Khaleej which has a fully-owned export plant at Port Rashid. It markets lubricants produced at the plant in 26 countries in the Middle East and East Asia.

A 25,000-t/y lube oil recycling plant came on stream in April 1994, built by India's Gadgil Western Corp. at a cost of $5m. The plant's output is exported to India. In 1995, it brought on stream a 2,500 b/d high-tech plant to convert low value fuel oils into gasoline, automotive and marine diesel, lube oil base stock and bunkers. The first phase of a demonstration plant uses a revolutionary technology known as Gadgil Interline. Gadgil linked up with Interline of the US to develop the process, with Jebel Ali the first to use this, and the second phase expansion has boosted the capacity to 7,500 b/d. The combined cost of both phases has been estimated at $38m.

Oil products storage and distribution in Dubai is a growing business, with EPPCO being the main player (see also OMT). Star Energy Resources, the Bermuda-registered subsidiary of Abu Dhabi's Star Energy Corp., is another storage/distribution business developed in Dubai, and has an expanded blending complex at Jebel Ali. ENOC, Star and Emarat are also the main players in the oil products storage and bunkering business in Fujairah. Caltex operates a 1.5m gallon storage depot in Jebel Ali for the US Defence Department, supplying fuels and other oil products to American forces in the region. ConocoPhillips has an underground salt cavern storage complex at Jebel Ali able to hold up to 840,000 t/y of LPG. It was completed in 1999.

A JV of Emarat (60%), BP (20%) and Trafigura (20%) has had a new petroleum products storage and distribution terminal built at Jebel Ali. A $30m tank farm stores 300,000-400,000 CM of gasoline, jet fuel and other products from Oman's Sohar refinery for distribution. This will be expanded later.