The assembly of Queensland’s first oil refinery will start this weekend at Yarwun, with the project representing a $55 million investment by its joint partners.
The Northern Oil Refinery is a joint venture between Southern Oil and J.J. Richards, and will create 40 full time positions.
It will take five days for workers to stand the refinery after which the plumbing and wiring of its vessels, pipes, valves, pumps and tanks will take place.
The facility is set to open in February 2014.
Southern Oil managing director Tim Rose said the plant had the potential to process 100 per cent of Queensland’s annual production of waste and used lube oil.
The company currently refines 8 per cent of the nation’s waste lube oil through its Wagga Wagga plant in NSW.
“The process produces no waste, reduces the need for oil imports and our product has a significantly smaller carbon footprint than crude base oils,” Rose said.
He said the plant would also pose an environmental benefit for the state, using 60 per cent less energy compared to the production of crude lube oil, all of which is imported into Australia.
“Refining sits at the top of the waste management hierarchy and secures and environmental and economic value for used oil,” Rose said.
Rose said it was a great relief to witness the project’s last stages coming together.
"Many of the staff have been down in Wagga for the last year training, and they're now back to watch it all come together," he said.
"We had the choice to expand Wagga or build elsewhere, and most of Australia's oil is generated and used in Queensland.
"Gladstone just felt like the place to be."