Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) will start marketing its own brand of lube oils meant primarily for high performance cars and other vehicles by end of October.

The oils will be produced at the company's new BD170 million ($450 million) lube plant, due to start production early next month, said chief executive Faisal Al Mahroos.

'Pre-commissioning is now on and we expect that to be completed in the next two weeks,' he said.

'The first shipment from the company is expected to leave Bahrain by the end of October after we have produced enough to fill the massive tank capacity we have.'

Al Mahroos said eight storage tanks, each with a 70,000 barrel capacity, had been prepared to store the oils.

'We can only start to export after we have most storage capacity taken,' he said.

Al Mahroos said the oils would not be available in the local market for the first five years.

'We already have a contract for a five-year commitment with international companies,' he said. 'However, we will use that time to build up the brand in Bahrain after which it will be sold in the country.'

The new plant will utilise feedstock from Bapco's low sulphur diesel plant to manufacture superior sulphur-free high viscosity index grade III lube base oils. – TradeArabia News Service