Global oil and gas group Shell has opened a gas-to-liquid (GTL) base-oil hub, in Jebel Ali, in the United Arab Emirates, which it believes will accelerate the distribution of GTL to end-users, enabling the base oil to be quickly manufactured into finished products.

The storage hub is located on an industrial site about 30 km from Dubai and adds to Shell’s portfolio of facilities in Houston, US, Hamburg, in Germany, and Hong Kong, in China.

The addition marked Shell’s fourth GTL base-oil storage hub and it made its first delivery of GTL base oil in late December, Shell noted in a release on Friday.

Base oil was a key component in finished oils and was used in the development of premium oils for engines, as well as in speciality products, including process oils and transformer fluids.

Production from the hub would be used in Shell’s selection of motor oils for customers in the Middle East and in certain other markets, such as Egypt, India, Pakistan and South Africa.

In South Africa, the GTL base-oil from the Jebel Ali hub would be delivered to Shell’s joint venture lubricant blending plant Blendcor, in Durban, which manufactured vehicle oil.

Shell supply chain VP Dennis Cheong said GTL base-oil hubs were an integral part of Shell Lubricants’ global supply chain.

“Shell is the only company with a reliable supply of GTL base-oil and this new hub accomplishes the full global integration of our transportation and storage of this oil,” he commented.

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

Qatar Shell deputy GM Sheikh Thani Al Thani said GTL products represented a pioneering innovation, as they increased the supply of liquid hydrocarbons to the market.

“They offer significant advantages in many applications as they are virtually sulphur free, colourless and odourless. These attributes make [GTL-based products] very attractive [in] help[ing] meet the growing requirements of consumers and we are extremely proud to be at the leading edge of innovation that produces these and future superior products,” he commented.