South Africa

Prospects from Sapref Buy-out Debated
A view of the Sapref refinery in Durban, South Africa. © lcswart

Prospects from Sapref Buy-out Debated

August 14, 2024

The state’s acquisition of the Sapref refinery in Durban could revive local base oils production in South Africa’s i ...

Castrol Profits Surged in 4th Quarter

Castrol Profits Surged in 4th Quarter

February 13, 2024

BP reported a triple-digit increase in fourth-quarter profitability for its Castrol lubricants business and a slight imp ...

Vickers Opening Food-grade Lube Plant

Vickers Opening Food-grade Lube Plant

February 6, 2024

Vickers Oils announced it has built a lubricant blending plant in the Leeds, United Kingdom, area dedicated to productio ...

Fuchs Expands in South Africa

Fuchs Expands in South Africa

December 11, 2023

Fuchs Lubricants announced it is investing 218 million rand (U.S. $11.4 million) in the second phase of an expansion tha ...

Additive

BP, Shell Will Not Repair Sapref

July 4, 2023

BP and Shell have decided not to repair their damaged Sapref joint venture, signaling that the Durban, South Africa, ref ...

Vivo, Engen Merge African Operations

Vivo, Engen Merge African Operations

February 14, 2023

Engen and Vivo Energy will combine their respective African businesses to create one of Africa’s largest energy distri ...

South Africa Auto Sales Jumped in 2022

South Africa Auto Sales Jumped in 2022

January 10, 2023

Sales of new vehicles in South Africa rose by 14% in 2022 and were just 1% shy of pre-pandemic new vehicle sales in 2019 ...

Sapref to Pause Operations in March

Sapref to Pause Operations in March

February 15, 2022

The South African base oil market will become completely import-dependent from March when Sapref – the joint venture b ...

Additive

Azelis Acquires African Distributor Umongo

October 26, 2021

A subsidiary of specialty chemicals distributor Azelis will acquire 90% of the shares of South Africa-based lubricants, ...

South African Container Maker Sold

South African Container Maker Sold

August 3, 2021

Austria-based Alpla Group, a global plastic packaging and recycling specialist, acquired last month the lubricants divis ...

Additive

South African Market Begins Rebound

November 10, 2020

Like many around the world, South Africa’s base oil and lubricants markets were buffeted by an economic lockdown impos ...

Additive

Fuchs Invests in South Africa

September 8, 2020

Fuchs Lubricants announced that it is investing 250 million South African rand (U.S. $14.9 million) as part of a project ...

Critiquing South Africa’s Taxes on EV Imports

Critiquing South Africa’s Taxes on EV Imports

May 28, 2019

South Africa is dragging its heels on the path to vehicle electrification. Expanding the fleet and infrastructure is ess ...

South Africa Drives Food-grade Lube Market

South Africa Drives Food-grade Lube Market

July 15, 2018

The country is one of the biggest economies on the continent, with a highly developed and growing food processing indust ...

Additive

Fuchs Grease Plants Progress

March 22, 2017

Fuchs new factory in Chicago will produce 29 different specialty greases, and its new plant near Johannesburg, South Afr ...

Additive

Fuchs Plans South Africa Grease Hub

August 10, 2016

Fuchs Petrolub plans to build a new grease plant in Johannesburg, South Africa, that will serve as the companys hub for ...