Market Topics

Specialty chemical supplier ICI Group announced last week that it will try to sell oleochemical subsidiary Uniqema in order to focus on other prioriti ...

Chevron imposed allocations on base oil sales in the United States yesterday, a move that reflected a worsening supply scene.Additionalsymptoms arose ...

Base Oil Price Report

February 8, 2006

Valero, SK and Chevron raised posted base oil prices the past week, rounding out a monster of a hike begun last month. Valero raised its price Monday, ...

Nebraska-based Warren Distribution Inc. last month announced plans to build its third lubricant blending plant – a 250,000-square-foot facility ...

Fourth-quarter revenue reached $1 billion at Lubrizol Corp., setting a record for the Wickliffe, Ohio, based specialty chemical company. The final qua ...

Calumet Specialty Products Partners LP declared its initial public stock offering a success last week. Now the company is moving forward with its next ...

An already-struggling U.S. base oil industry absorbed yet another blow last week when an explosion halted production at the Excel Paralubes joint vent ...

Base Oil Price Report

February 1, 2006

The U.S. base oil market appears to be undergoing its first general price hike in three months, and suppliersmay be making up for lost time. During th ...

Uniqema on Monday announced the start-up of new production lines of specialty surfactants at its factory in New Castle, Del. The lines are part of a b ...

Financial results posted the past week spotlighted diverging fortunes for two of the lubricant industrys major players. Valvolines earnings for the th ...

OSTFILDERN, Germany – The worlds appetite for lubricants has begun growing again, but only because Asias emerging markets are far outstripping t ...

GF-5 Targeted for 2009

February 1, 2006

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – With their eyes on a projected launch date of 2009, the motor oil and auto industries are sharpening their efforts to defin ...

Alemite Lands with Harbour

January 25, 2006

St. Louis-based Harbour Group said yesterday that it has purchased Alemite LLC, a manufacturer of lubrication and fluid handling equipment and systems ...

Base Oil Price Report

January 25, 2006

Motiva imposed hefty price hikes on its base oils today, less than three weeks before the scheduled unveiling of its massive Port Arthur, Texas, expan ...

Dow Chemical Co. announced last week the lifting of a force majeure declaration imposedon ethyleneamines more than fourmonths ago in the wake of Hurri ...

Fire Pinches Nynas Plant

January 25, 2006

A Jan. 13 fire has forced Nynas to temporarily scale back production at its naphthenic base oil plant in Nynashamn, Sweden, the company said yesterday ...

Pitt Penn Changes Hands

January 25, 2006

The owner of Pitt Penn Oil Co. agreed last week to sell the Pennsylvania compounder blender to Industrial Enterprises of America Inc., a year-old hold ...

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Time is running out to join in the auto industrys initiative to fund the development of a new fuel economy test for engine ...

Petro-Canada said this week that the Group II train of its Mississauga, Ontario, base oil plant is not expected to resume production until early March ...

The new API CJ-4 diesel engine oil specification is barreling towards approval tomorrow by ASTMs Heavy Duty Engine Oil Classification Panel at a speci ...