Gulf Oil Lubricants plans to start production from Chennai plant in Oct 2017

Gulf Oil Lubricants India Ltd, a part of the Hinduja Group, plans to start commercial production at the under-construction Chennai plant by the end of second quarter (Q2) next year. “The project is on schedule and we hope to start commercial production sometime by the end of second quarter (Q2) or early third quarter next year,” disclosed Manish Kumar Gangwal, chief financial officer, Gulf Oil India Lubricants Ltd, during a conference call with investors on October 21, 2016

In May this year, the company conducted ground-breaking ceremony for its second plant in India at Ennore (Chennai) having a capacity of around 40,000-50,000 kilo litre (KL). At present, Gulf Oil manufactures lubricants at its Silvassa facility – the capacity of which has been augmented from 75,000 kilo litre (KL) to 90,000 KL recently.

The construction and PEB (pre-engineered buildings) work contact has already been awarded for the Chennai plant and the full scale construction work is currently underway. Chennai, being a major auto hub with increasing presence of several OEMs, Gulf Oil expects to improve its strategic presence in South India and also derive cost benefits from this new plant.

“The commissioning on Chennai plant, which will serve South India market, will obviously have some freight savings, etc,” stated Gangwal.