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Plans for NexLube oil reprocessing plant in Tampa back on

 
Before construction was suddenly suspended in November 2013, NexLube Tampa had mostly finished the infrastructure of the facility, including this building. [SKIP O’ROURKE  |  Times (2013)] 
Before construction was suddenly suspended in November 2013, NexLube Tampa had mostly finished the infrastructure of the facility, including this building. [SKIP O’ROURKE | Times (2013)] 
Published March 11, 2016

TAMPA — Plans to build an oil reprocessing facility at Port Tampa Bay are back on track, years after cost overruns halted construction.

NexLube Tampa LLC spent $100 million to build a facility to clean up used oil on Pendola Point before work was suddenly suspended in November 2013. The company said the cost of finishing construction had doubled, but that it wasn't giving up on the project just yet.

Now, the facility could be up and running by the middle of 2018, port documents show.

The plant is intended to re-refine oil to make 24 million gallons a year of products such as lubricants and diesel, port documents say. Before construction stopped, the company had mostly finished the infrastructure of the facility, including a 56,000-square-foot factory, 20,000-square-foot office building and 30 storage tanks.

To help pay for the rest of the work, NexLube has reached a deal with the German oil processor Puralube for a joint venture to run the factory. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but they are expected to close on the deal by the end of May.

The two companies will ask the port's board for permission next week to transfer NexLube's 20-year, $10 million lease to the joint venture, dubbed Puraglobe Florida LLC. Records show the company was incorporated on Monday in Delaware.

Port Tampa Bay deferred questions to the companies. NexLube and Puralube didn't immediately return requests for comment Thursday.

NexLube's arrival in Tampa in 2012 was heralded as an important project for the port, and it was lured with several perks. State and local officials offered as much as $637,500 worth of incentives in return for creating 75 high-paying jobs; state records show it never received those funds.

Contact Thad Moore at tmoore@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3434. Follow @thadmoore.