GP Petroleums (GPPL), a leading lubricant manufacturer in India and part of UAE-based GP Global Group, has resumed operations at its Vasai plant and will prioritise supply to essential services such as sugar and power generation industries in these difficult and trying times arisen out of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The operations have commenced basis the importance of lubricants to help major manufacturing plants to run smoothly. The company plans to operate the 80,000 tonnes Vasai lubricant plant at required capacity as per the permissions received and will be managing daily functioning as per government guidelines.

?Certain industries are being given permission to open certain sections of their plants, with certain precautions, SOPs and with minimum workforce. We have the necessary clearance from the local authorities and upon resumption our priority is to cater to the sectors which fall under essential services. We will prioritise the dispatch of 200,000 litres to Western Coalfields (WCL) which is one of our biggest and oldest customers,? said Prashanth Achar, CEO, GPPL.

The company?s industrial lubricants brand IPOL is an industry leading product, used in operation of machinery engaged in coal production and the company had received a special re-quest from WCL to supply the same in order to continue their operations. As a special case, the company has already supplied part quantity of the product to WCL?s three plant locations - Yavatmal, Wani and Chandrapur in Maharashtra.

The sugar industries of Haryana and Maharashtra have appreciated GPPL?s effort to supply various range of sugar lube oils, hydraulics, gear oil and greases to help run their plants effectively in the government ordered lockdown.

Moreover, GP Petroleums also is gearing up for production of water soluble cutting coolant to avoid any major health hazard post the government lockdown. The company is one of the largest suppliers of water soluble cutting oils and semi-synthetic coolants to the various leading automotive and engineering industries across the country. These cutting coolants are used in 2-5 per cent concentration for the cutting operations. Since these cutting coolant emulsions are stand still and not in circulation, it will lead to huge bacteria and fungi formation which would result in major hygiene issues across the industries.

The company, also a known player in the automotive lubricants space through brands IPOL and REPSOL, will soon resume supplies to the trucking and agriculture industry, which also come under essential services, as this requires regular repairs and oil service which makes it imperative to supply oil to this segment.