New Sales Head at Pennine Pennine Lubricants has promoted Dale Fletcher to UK sales manager after more than eight years with the company. Dale joined Pennine as an internal sales coordinator before moving into sales and technical support and later overseeing the Midlands region. He has developed customer relationships and won several major accounts during his time with the company. In his new role, Dale said he plans to bring Pennine’s internal sales and technical sales engineers closer togeth...

Ukrainian drones struck Tatneft’s Taneco refinery in Nizhnekamsk, Russia, on Aug. 10. The attack was the latest in a campaign targeting an industrial hub that supplies Russia’s fuel and petrochemical sectors and is home to the country’s sole producer of polyalphaolefin base stocks. Ukraine’s General Staff said the strike was intended to reduce Russia’s military potential and that a fire was recorded at the refinery. Russian authorities said 13 people, including a child, were killed and...

Saudi Aramco Base Oil Co. Luberef posted first-half net income of 992 million Saudi riyals (U.S.$264.5 million), up 113% from 467 million riyals a year earlier, as base oil crack margins surged to their highest level in the company’s history, according to an investor presentation. Revenue increased 27% to 5.58 billion riyals from 4.38 billion, despite a 5% decline in base oil sales volumes to 553,000 metric tons. The average base oil crack margin rose 49% to 2,732/ riyals per ton from 1,828/to...

Vietnam’s lubricants market is being reshaped by rapid growth in passenger vehicles, electric vehicles and industrial activity, while motorcycles remain the dominant form of transportation, according to speakers at a recent ICIS conference in Singapore. “Vietnam is not one lubricant market. It is four markets moving at different speeds,” an industry insider told attendees, describing the four segments as motorcycles, passenger vehicles, electrification and industrial. Motorcycles remain th...

The chances of the Strait of Hormuz reopening soon are becoming slimmer, as negotiations between the United States and Iran have devolved into both sides demanding reparations. For base oil cargoes, the prolonged disruption has created alternative routing and delivery problems. Some base oil supplies have moved through neighboring countries and ports outside the Gulf, according to Berlin-based trader DYM Resources, which estimates that trucking and demurrage have increased shipping costs by two ...