U.S. based Afton Chemical Corporation is opening a new facility in Shanghai in early 2009.

The Shanghai R&D facility is located in the Zizhu Science Industrial Park and provides over 1,000 square meters of space including nine fully equipped laboratories for analytical development and testing. The facility is close to two leading universities.

Afton is also opening a second facility is located in Tsukuba, Japan outside of Tokyo. This expanded R&D center is over 3,300 square meters and employs eight managers, technologists, formulators and technicians.

Jon Rock, the vice president and managing director Asia Pacific for Afton, stated that the Asia Pacific region is of critical importance to Afton Chemical saying that customers value technical leadership and innovation above all else. He added that these two investments demonstrate Afton’s commitment to their customers and their ultimate success in the region.

These two new centers are in addition to Afton’s global R&D center located in Richmond, Va., and a major center in Bracknell, near London, in the UK.

Afton Chemical Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NewMarket Corporation. Afton Chemical develops and manufactures petroleum additives for fuels and lubricating oils.