Shell has opened a new gas-to-liquids (GTL) base oil hub in Jebel Ali, UAE, and has made the company’s first delivery of GTL base oil.

The base oil is a key component in finished oils and GTL base oil specifically enables the development of premium oils for engines, as well as in specialty products, including process oils and transformer fluids, said the company in a statement.

This new facility in Jebel Ali is Shell’s fourth GTL base oil storage hub alongside its existing hubs located in Houston, Texas; Hamburg, Germany; and Hong Kong, it said.

The hub will facilitate the distribution of GTL base oil to be manufactured into finished products nearer to the end customer. 

These products will be used in Shell Helix Ultra with PurePlus Technology, Shell Risella X and Shell Diala X for customers in the Middle East, Egypt, India, Pakistan and South Africa. 

The GTL base oil is made in the Middle East at the Pearl GTL plant in Qatar, a partnership between Qatar Petroleum and Shell. The plant is the world’s largest source of GTL products. - TradeArabia News Service