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Kuwait Petroleum Int'l opens new world class blending plant in Belgium

President of KPI, Bakheet Al-Rashidi with other guests on tour of the blening plant of Q8 in Antwerp
President of KPI, Bakheet Al-Rashidi with other guests on tour of the blening plant of Q8 in Antwerp
BRUSSELS, May 2 (KUNA) -- Q8 Oils, affiliate of Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI), officially opened its multi-million dollar state of the art blending plant in the port city of Antwerp in Belgium, Monday.
President of KPI, Bakheet Al-Rashidi, in his speech at the opening ceremony said "today marks the new beginning of an old monument within Kuwait petroleum international. Today we officially reopen Kuwait blending plant in Antwerp. It is a world class finished lubricant manufacturing plant." "We look with great pride at the work Q8 Oils has done in the Benelux region, especially in Belgium. Their growth in retail and direct businesses perfectly demonstrates the ambitious expansion programme that Q8 is pursing in Europe," he noted.
The KPI chief said "we are very pleased to be so significantly invested in the European lubricants market, especially our USD 100 million investment in the plant and Q8 Oils' success in completing it in 24 months and within budget." "We now plan to fully utilise our new state-of-the-art blending plant as we continue to implement our growth strategy in European markets and elsewhere," he added.
Vice Mayor of Antwerp, Philip Heylen the Board of KPI, Q8 Oils' key customers members of the Belgian Petroleum Federation, the ambassador of the Gulf Cooperation Council to the EU and Belgium, Amal Al Hamad, diplomats from the Kuwait embassy in Brussels attended the opening ceremony of the new plant.
The Vice Mayor of Antwerp, Philip Heylen in his welcome speech said "Q8 and the city of Antwerp indeed share long history. I would like to thank Q8 for staying with us so long and above all for making this huge investment in the new blending plant. This is a big upgrade for the entire area," he said.
"Today On behalf of the city of Antwerp I can only give our deepest congratulations to the Q8 management and to the entire staff. Now together we will build a new future," he added.
Kuwait Petroleum Vice President - Europe, Khaled Al-Mushaileh said "The new high capacity, modern and sophisticated blending plant at Antwerp with superbly enhanced facilities and capabilities is going to play a pivotal role in writing new growth and success stories for our Q8Oils' lubricants business in Europe and world-wide." Kuwait Petroleum Global Business Managing Director,. Fadel AlFaraj noted that The Antwerp blending plant was originally built in 1891 as storage for fuel and lubricant imports from the US. Q8 bought it in 1983, and in the past thirty-three years, the plant and its 131 employees have played a vital role in our success in the global lubricants market.
"What you see here today began as a masterplan. This was developed to achieve our shareholders' growth ambitions. Now, we are proud to be operating a state-of-the-art, environmentally responsible blending plant with a current capacity of 125 million litres of lubricants, fully scalable up to 250 million litres per annum," he added.
Q8 Oils' state-of-the-art blending plant in Antwerp , 55 kns from Brussels, is one of the largest and most technically advanced lubricant production facilities in Europe. The plant has a blending capacity which is scalable up to 250 million litres per annum. It enjoys excellent access to the UK and mainland Europe by highway, rail and sea.
Q8 Oils is owned and operated by Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI), which is the International downstream entity of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), the national oil company of the State of Kuwait. Today, Q8Oils lubricants are used by customers in more than 80 countries around the world. (end) nk.nfm