Market Topics

Base Oil Price Report

October 2, 2002

During a quiet week for the U.S. base oil market, sellers and buyers watched two fronts – the economy and Americas confrontation with Iraq ̵ ...

The Mexican subsidiary of Kluber Lubrication Munchen KG is building a 95,000-square-foot grease plant to replace an existing facility in Mexico City. ...

(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) Saying that many automatic transmission fluids today are inadequate to meet its service life and performance goals, General ...

(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) Engine oils for General Motors 2004 model year passenger cars will have to leap an additional hurdle beyond the ILSAC GF-3 s ...

Shell Oil Co. completed its acquisition of Pennzoil-Quaker State Co. yesterday, after agreeing to meet regulator demands to sell Pennzoil-Quaker State ...

Base Oil Price Report

September 25, 2002

With mark-ups announced by Citgo last week, the U.S. naphthenic base oil market wrapped up a round of price hikes that stretched out nearly a month. M ...

ExxonMobil Cements Deal

September 25, 2002

ExxonMobil Lubricants and Specialties announced last week that it has won a contract to become the sole source, worldwide supplier of lubricants and i ...

Fast Lube Slow Down

September 25, 2002

Fast lube industry growth continues to slow, and profit margins slipped in the past year, according to National Oil & Lube News. For the fifth con ...

Calumet Lubricants Co. says it will adjust operations at its Shreveport, La., base oil refinery, eliminating production of naphthenics while adding ca ...

Base Oil Price Report

September 18, 2002

If Shell Oil Co. has to sacrifice a stake in Excel Paralubes to complete its purchase of Pennzoil-Quaker State Co., observers say it wont have a probl ...

Hydrotex Heads for Wider Spaces

September 18, 2002

Specialty lubricant blender Hydrotex Partners announced last week that it will expand by moving its manufacturing operations to a new 96,000-square-fo ...

A union of Nigerian petroleum workers launched its own motor oil recently as part of an effort to combat illegal sales of fraudulent products. The hea ...

U.S. demand for lubricant additives is expected to grow 2.3 percent per year to $1.7 billion in 2006, according to a new study by The Freedonia Group ...

Base Oil Price Report

September 11, 2002

After the formation of ConocoPhillips, company officials said its too early to say what they will do withtheir share of base oils from the Excel Paral ...

TAK Tacks On LubeTrak

September 11, 2002

E-commerce services provider The TAK Group announced yesterday that it has acquired LubeTrak, a provider of online oil analysis. The companies said Lu ...

Turkmenistans state-owned oil companies recently opened the countrys first lubricant blending plant, a facility that is expected to meet all of the na ...

India Puts Oil Sell-off on Ice

September 11, 2002

(MUMBAI, India) – On September 7, the Indian government deferred disinvestment in state oil majors Bharat Petroleum Corp. (BPC) and Hindustan Pe ...

At the request of U.S. Federal Trade Commission officials,Shell Oil Co.and Pennzoil-Quaker State Co.have agreedto divest Pennzoil-Quaker States stake ...

Base Oil Price Report

September 4, 2002

U.S. base oil suppliers this week completed a round of price hikes described by some as a cautious response to higher crude oil costs. Principal suppl ...

Fuchs Petrolub AG reported that its net income for the first half of 2002 more than doubled from the same period of 2001, due to external and internal ...