Our core business is:

• the refining of crude oil 
• the marketing of our primary refined petroleum products in Africa
• the provision of convenience services through our retail network.

THE HISTORY OF ENGEN

Engen is an African-based petroleum company with a history going back to 1897 when the UK branch of the American Vacuum Oil Company set up a sales office in Cape Town. The company eventually became part of the US-based Mobil Corporation.

There is a proud history of dynamic growth since those early days. The enterprise grew rapidly through a series of amalgamations and name changes over the years, including the 1989 acquisition of Mobil’s interests by Gencor, to create the largest energy group in Southern Africa. In May 1990, the company was renamed Engen and in 1992, Engen Limited, was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

The company was de-listed in December 1998 when it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) the Malaysian National Oil Company. Subsequent to the de-listing Petronas sold 20% of its shareholding in Engen Limited to Worldwide African Investment Holdings (Pty) Limited late in 1999. Petronas puts its considerable research, technology and international muscle behind Engen’s success and growth.

In May 2004, Engen entered into a lubricants alliance with ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil is the world's largest manufacturer of lubricant basestocks, a leading marketer of finished lubricants, and the world's leading producer of synthetic lubricants. ExxonMobil supplies lubricant and petroleum specialty products to nearly 200 countries and territories through its global network of 13 lube refineries.

The basis of the Engen/ExxonMobil alliance is that ExxonMobil provides technical and marketing support while Engen is the sole marketer and distributor of a range of ExxonMobil’s lubricants in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. The range of lubricants that Engen manages and markets includes Engen, Mobil, and selected Esso products.

INFRASTRUCTURE

• 135 000 barrels per day refinery in Durban, South Africa
• State of the art lubricants blending plant
• Over 1400 Engen branded service stations
• Over 500 Quickshops (Engen’s proprietary brand of convenience stores)
• Over 90 depots; terminals and aviation facilities
• Large transport fleet
• Two product tankers - 45 Metric Tons (dead weight)
• Sophisticated information systems networks
• Over 2800 employees

MANUFACTURING

REFINING

Our Durban-based refinery, which has a capacity of 135 000 barrels a day, is one of the most sophisticated crude oil refineries in Africa.

The refinery was commissioned in 1954 and was South Africa’s first refinery. Since then, it has undergone a number of modernisation and upgrade improvements including several environmental upgrade programmes.

This world-class refinery is capable of converting light and heavy crudes into high value product streams. A variety of separation, conversion and purification processes ensure maximum flexibility for producing basic fuels and a wide range of high quality by-products from bitumens through chemical feedstocks up to exotic solvents. The refinery’s product range includes petrol, jet fuel and diesel fuel, aviation gasoline, liquefied petroleum gas, solvents, bitumen, sulphur, illuminating kerosene and bunker fuel oil. Our lubricating oil base stocks are produced at SAFOR. Engen owns 47% of SAFOR and is the operating company. SAFOR produces 45 % of the base oils in Southern Africa.

BLENDING - LUBRICANTS

Our state-of-the-art Lube Oil Blend Plant (LOBP) benefits from a close proximity to our refinery, which pipes most base oil directly to the LOBP. Durban is Southern Africa’s biggest and busiest port and has a highly developed rail, road and air infrastructure.

The LOBP produces in excess of 72 million litres of finished lubricants every year. We supply both automotive and industrial markets and provide products for petrol and diesel engines, gearboxes, hydraulics, turbines, compressors, machine tools and a variety of other applications from both mineral and synthetic base oil stocks.

We have access to the world’s high-tech laboratories for cutting edge lubricant technology and this has enabled us to develop products that suit the harsh conditions experienced in Africa.

We comply with the international ISO 9001 2000 production standard and conduct stringent quality controls throughout our blending processes. A massive investment in technology and a totally automated warehouse ensures speed and reliability while automated controls throughout our African operations assist in reliable and on-time delivery.