ExxonMobil has taken a final investment decision to proceed with an expansion of its Singapore complex.

The multinational energy and chemicals group will invest a multi-billion dollar sum to upgrade and expand the site’s product slate to higher-value lube base stocks and distillates. The project will add 20,000 barrels per day of Group II base stocks capacity, as well as a new high-viscosity Group II base stock to meet increasing demand in Asia-Pacific.

In addition, ExxonMobil will raise capacity for cleaner fuels containing less sulfur by 48,000 barrels per day, enabling customers to meet new International Maritime Organization rules that will limit sulfur content in bunker fuels to a maximum of 0.5% from Jan. 1, 2020.

“The demand for high-quality fuels and lubricants will increase as the global economy expands,” said Bryan Milton, president of ExxonMobil Fuels & Lubricants. “By using a combination of proprietary catalyst and process technologies, we will increase the site’s competitiveness and help meet growing demand for high-performance lubricants and cleaner fuels.”

The Singapore complex includes the world’s only steam cracker capable of cracking crude oil. ExxonMobil said the project will further enhance the competitiveness of crude cracking and leverage proprietary technologies, integration and scale to significantly increase the site’s downstream and chemical earnings potential.

Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) activities have begun and the additional capacity is anticipated to start-up in 2023. EPC contracts have been awarded to Spanish contractor Tecnicas Reunidas for the new process units and Wood Group for interconnecting pipelines and supporting infrastructure facilities.

ExxonMobil is also working on a long-term commercial agreement with industrial gases producer Linde to upgrade residue from the site to hydrogen and synthesis gas.

The company said the project is the latest and most significant in a series of investments it has made in base stock production. The company started up a world-scale enhanced hydrocracker unit in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, last year, and undertook a previous expansion in Singapore during 2015.

In March 2018, ExxonMobil outlined an aggressive growth strategy to more than double earnings and cash from operations by 2025. The plan projects double-digit rates of return in the company’s upstream, downstream and chemicals businesses.