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Gulf RAK Oil launches new facility at Maritime City

Gulf RAK Oil opened its state-of-the-art lubricant manufacturing plant and grease processing facility on Friday, jointly set up by the Government of Ras Al Khaimah and Gulf Oil International, the energy wing of the Hinduja Group.

The plant was commissioned on Friday by His Highness Shaikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, in the presence of Shaikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development.

The launch was also attended by Gopichand P. Hinduja, co-chairman of the Hinduja Group of Companies; M.K. Lokesh, Ambassador of India to the UAE; and senior officials of the Government of Ras Al Khaimah and the Hinduja Group.

Gulf RAK Oil has been set up as a manufacturing facility for lubricants and greases in Ras Al Khaimah’s Maritime City. “The plant is strategically located to enjoy easy accessibility as well as supportive trading policies which makes it viable for our products to be available at much more economical rates to the end user across the GCC and the Mena region. We are very grateful for the support of the Ras Al Khaimah government in this project,” said Frank Rutten, vice-president for international at Gulf Oil.

The present blending capacity of the plant is 30,000MTPA of lubricants. Proposed expansion plans with new machineries and equipment will see an increased blending capacity of 44,000MTPA. The facility has the present bulk storage capacity of approximately 7,000MT for base oils and 2,000MT of finished products.

“The IDO [Investment and Development Office] of the Government of Ras Al Khaimah has a very clear vision of continuous development and growth through investments in new and existing businesses. We are focused on developing the infrastructure to promote investments in the emirate and collaboration with partners who are specialists with a proven track record of success,” IDO CEO and board member Jim Stewart said.

Spanning across an area of over 13 acres, the production facility at Gulf RAK provides for blending, filling and storage of finished products. The plant has also been set up with a small pack filling line, drum decanting unit for blending, drum and bulk filling facilities. The plant holds the capacity to fill small pack up to 6,000MTPA in addition to grease production and filling of 10,000MTPA. IDO and Gulf Oil, through another Joint venture Standard Greases and Specialties (India), have also commissioned a grease manufacturing facility in the same facility at Ras Al Khaimah.

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