Now, with the help of Russian investment, Modrica is taking the next step, expanding that base oil plant and constructing a new lubricant blending plant. In doing so, the company aims to become a heavy lifter in its neighborhood and a significant supplier in surrounding regions.

Modrica Oil Refinery is located in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the town of the same name. It was founded in the 1950s, made finished lubricants after the 1960s and began making base oils in 1980. In 1992 it was crippled by the Bosnian War, as fighting caused enough damage that the facility was only capable of making 1,000 to 2,000 metric tons per year of finished lubes.

Lubricant production began to pick up four years later, but the refinery did not resume base oil production until 2009 after the Russian firm Zarubehzneft bought a 75 percent stake in Modricas parent company. The new base oil plant was an upgraded facility, capable of making Group III stocks. However, with capacity of just 52,000 t/y, it was one of the smallest base oil plants in Europe. The company used some of that output to make finished lubricants and sold the rest to other lube blenders.

In April the company disclosed that it had begun a project intended to raise its profile in both base oil and lube markets. First, the base oil plant is being expanded to a capacity of 200,000 t/y. Second the facility is getting a new blending plant capable of making 45,000 t/y of finished lubes. Both plants are scheduled to be completed in 2014.

Modrica Oil Refinery Director Pero Dujic said the base oil expansion is a response to growing demand for Group III oils.

Current production from our base oil plant is not able to keep up with rising demands from the market, he told Lube Report in April.

Modrica is part of Nestro Petrol, which also includes fuels producer Brod Oil Refinery, and which was Petrol Banja Luka when Zarubehzneft bought into it in 2007. Since that takeover, Zarubehzneft has built Nestro into the largest supplier of fuels and oil derivatives in Republika Srpska, which is one of two main political entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and which constitutes much of the eastern and northern parts of the country. Modrica is also a regional leader in the production of automotive and industrial lubricants.

But officials see the business extending its reach after 2014. With a larger and more modern blending plant, Dujic said Modrica will be able to make lubricants that compete with Western European companies in terms of quality and cost. It sounds as if Nestro may try going up against those companies in neighboring markets. He did say explicitly that the company intends to sell some of its base oils in Western Europe and in Russia.

The outside world may soon be hearing from a Balkan company that had disappeared for a while.