Saudi Total Lubricants Company Ltd (SATLUB), part of Total - the fourth largest publicly-traded integrated international oil and gas company - signed an agreement with Emaar, the Economic City (EEC), the Tadawul-listed company developing King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), to establish a lubricants manufacturing facility on approximately 65,000m2 of a leased plot in the Industrial Valley in KAEC. The new state-of-the-art fully automated facility is Total's first plant in Saudi Arabia and will be commissioned in two years time. With an initial annual capacity of 25,000MT of lubricants, the plant will produce automotive, industrial, marine lubricants and specialty products, serving a highly dynamic and demanding Saudi market with plans to export to foreign markets. With an initial investment of over $10 million, the facility is expected to create employment opportunities for 50 people. “Total's investment is evidence to KAEC's viability as hub to the 250 million consumer marketplace in the Middle East and North Africa” said Fahd Al-Rasheed, managing director and CEO of EEC. KAEC's Industrial Valley offers distinctive facilities and different spaces to host large projects and to meets the requirements of manufactures and companies, he added. King Abdullah Economic City will be a unique and strategic location for SATLUB for a manufacturing facility, which will in addition to meeting the local requirements will also help export the products to Africa and other Middle East countries, said Christian Chammas, executive vice president -Total Refining & Marketing - Mediterranean & Middle East. Saudi Arabia is the single largest lubricants market in the Arabian Peninsula and SATLUB is committed to establish a strong and long-term presence in this important market. “The Industrial Valley at KAEC offers key logistic and facilitation advantages for investors vying for sustainable businesses. The new facility will aim at increasing our production capacity and KAEC's Industrial Valley was chosen from amongst various options to serve that purpose”, Chammas added. SATLUB is a joint venture firm between Zahid Group and Total.
