International oil giant, Total has inaugurated its new state-of-the-art lubricants oil blending plant, strategically located in the Kaluga region of the Russian Federation.
The grand opening ceremony took place on Monday, October 15th, in the presence of Anatoly Artamonov, Governor of the Kaluga Region, and Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Total.
This blending and production plant will allow Total to localize the production of its top-tier lubricants for the Russian market. With an investment equivalent to $ 50 million, this facility has been designed to produce initially 40,000 tons of automotive and industrial lubricants per year, with a scale-up option to bring this capacity up to 70,000 tons per year.
The plant is equipped with a fully automated blending system and ultramodern filling lines. Covering an area of 7 hectares of the Vorsino industrial park in the Kaluga Region, this facility opens less than two years after the start of construction. Its operations are creating 50 new working positions onsite.
“As illustrated by our commitment to major LNG projects in the Arctic, Russia has become a key country for Total. In addition to our upstream activities, Russia is also one of the highest priority development markets for our Marketing & Services and downstream products, especially lubricants” underlined Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of Total. ”
With this production and blending facility opening in Kaluga today, we are showing our strong dedication to our Russian customers. This new plant will strengthen our position in the Russian and Central Asian markets. It is fully in line with our strategy to grow profitability in developing markets and contribute strongly to the Group’s financial performance.”
“The opening of Total factory once again confirms the economic and investment attractiveness of the Kaluga region for international partners.” commented Anatoly Artamonov, Governor of the Kaluga region. “We aspire to provide the best conditions for companies which understand the importance of production localization in Russia, develop the import substitution policy and take care about the environment by creating ecologically safe production plants.
The Government of the region is ready to support them in such important and long-term projects”.
