Pertamina Lubricants to complete Thai firm buy in Sept

JAKARTA: Pertamina Lubricants, a unit of state energy company Pertamina that produces engine oil and brake fluid, looks to complete the acquisition of a mid-sized lubricant company in Thailand by September in its latest push to expand its export market.

According to Pertamina Lubricants president director Supriyanto, the acquisition of Bangkok-based Amaco is set to be completed in the third quarter this year.

Amaco is a leading lubricants producer in Thailand, which owns a blending plant with the capacity to produce 45,000 tonnes of lubricant products annually.

The acquisition — a first for Pertamina Lubricants — is in line with the company’s efforts to reach more overseas markets, boosting export sales by 20 per cent in four years.

“Currently, export sales only make up around 10 per cent, or approximately 1 trillion rupiah (RM273 million), of the company’s total sales.

“Going forward, we’re hoping that exports will contribute at least one-third of sales,” Supriyanto said, here, recently.

In addition to Thailand, Pertamina Lubricants also plans to move more into the lubricants market in China and Africa, whether through acquisitions or partnerships.

“Up until now, some of Pertamina Lubricant’s product have been marketed in 24 export destinations,” he added.

So far, Pertamina Lubricants products have been shipped to Australia, China, Europe, the Indo-China region, the Middle East, Japan and Singapore.

The company aims to book about 11 trillion rupees in revenue this year, growing around 10 per cent from last year.

The company is currently building a 500 billion rupiah grease plant, which is set to go online in June next year, and a 800 billion rupiah lube-oil blending plant that’s expected to be completed in December this year.

Both plants will boost Pertamina Lubricants’s capacity up to 600,000 tonnes per year.

Many lubricant manufacturers are boosting production in order to keep up with the growing automotive demand in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

Data from the Association of Indonesian Automotive Manufacturers reported that national car sales reached 641.511 units in the first half of the year, up 6.17 per cent from the same period last year.