Gulf Oil International Ltd, a Hinduja Group company, along with its joint venture partner Dabbagh Group in Saudi Arabia, on Monday announced that it has acquired Petromin for an undisclosed sum. Petromin is a joint venture between Saudi Aramco (71%) and Mobil Investments S.A (29%) an affiliate of Exxon Mobil. Petromin has annual sales of 80,000 MT and a turnover in excess of $200 million. Petromin is the largest manufacturer of lubricants in Saudi Arabia and exports to over 20 countries.
Speaking on the occasion Sanjay Hinduja, chairman, Gulf Oil International said ?this acquisition will help Gulf Oil consolidate its presence in the growing Middle East market and will also build the platform for growth for our business in the Middle East and Africa.”
Gulf Oil International, which is on an expansion spree, recently acquired a lubricant plant in Jebel Ali and is also constructing a new 50,000 ton lubricant plan in Yantai, Shandong province, China.
The Saudi government established Petromin as the State Petroleum Company in 1962 to develop the entire natural resource sector and harness it to the service of overall development.
Petromin’s role was to maximize the usefulness of the Kingdom’s oil, gas and minerals. Towards the end of the 1980s, a major restructuring of the Kingdom’s oil industry took place.
In 1988, Petromin formed Petrolube, a company jointly owned with Mobil. Petrolube was given responsibility for the production and marketing of the Kingdom’s lube oil blending plants in Jiddah, Jubail and Riyadh.