Apr 20 2006
BP held a ground breaking ceremony today in Taicang, east China's Jiangsu province, to celebrate the start of the construction of its dedicated industrial lubricants blending facility in China. With an initial investment of US$22 million, BP will own and operate the largest, most efficient and flexible industrial lubricant facility in China and in the wider BP when it is commissioned by end 2006.
Among the honored guests at the ceremony were representatives from the Taicang Municipal Government, the Party Secretary's Office, the Mayor's Office, People's Congress, People's Political Consultative Conference and members from various organisations. Also present were BP China and Group leadership team members and the media.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Andrew Rodgers, Director of BP Industrial Lubricants Supply Chain, said: 'I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Taicang government for its continuous support to BP. The investment in Taicang is the most important investment by BP industrial lubricant business in 2006 and will allow us to consolidate BP's lubricant businesses in China to best serve the needs of our customers.'
The new plant will have a production capacity of 45 million litres initially, and will produce a complete suite of high performance industrial lubricants and metalworking fluids. By 2010, its capacity will be further expanded to 70 million liters. The state-of-the-art manufacturing facility will have a computerized automated batch blender configuration which will enable it to produce over 400 products from over 500 different types of raw materials.
This project is an integral part of BP industrial lubricants' growth strategy for China. The company has already started investing in building a robust organization of human talents, efficient business processes and world-class customer service. A dedicated plant will only enhance BP’s delivery of that strategy.
'Taicang Port Development Zone has already attracted a number of investors, and we're particularly glad to see BP (China) Industrial Lubricants Co. Ltd choose to invest in here. BP's investment will help us with a leap forward towards our goal of becoming the largest centre for lubricants production and supply in China.' said Mr. Gao Yang, Vice Mayor of Taicang, at the ceremony.
BP's lubricants business in China is built on both the Castrol and BP master brands. Currently, it has a distribution presence in 25 provinces under Industrial Lubricants and Services, Consumer Lubricants and Marine Lubricants.
Lubricant product supply is currently supported by an 80 million litres blending plant in Guangdong and several contracted toll blenders within China, as well as imports from several BP plants around Asia Pacific, Europe and America. The Taicang plant will greatly boost BP's lubricants supply position and enable them to serve customers even better, with greater flexibility.