By a slender margin, base oil traders stayed within the half-year 200,000 metric ton quota on API Group II imports into the European Union, probably because of depressed demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s chilling of economic activity.

Shell and BP are among 150 signatories of a letter to United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging the U.K. government to emphasize sustainability in its COVID-19 recovery plan.

There are signs of moderate recovery in May for passenger car registrations across the European Union, according to the latest data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.

Authorities in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, confiscated 100,000 packs of fake engine oil after a sweep last week on a counterfeit operation in the tiny emirate’s industrial area. The Department of Economic Development’s Control and Consumer Protection Department seized what it described as international trademarked products worth 20 million dirham (U.S. $5.45 million).

Turkey’s only base oil plant is likely to resume production once Tupras restarts its Izmir refinery on July 1. Operations at the refinery, which includes a 400,000 metric ton per year API Group I unit, were halted on May 5 because of weak domestic demand for petroleum products caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Chinese base oil and lubricants plants have closed, and trade flows are being constricted by the rapidly spreading coronavrius epidemic.

A new test method designed to provide a more economical means to monitor for wear particles in grease is returning favorable results in round-robin testing, an industry panel was told last week.

The transport sector creates as much carbon dioxide as power generation, but faces far harsher punitive fines, said a representative from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association at the Uniti Mineral Oil Technology Congress here last week in Stuttgart, Germany.