Calumet Specialty Products Partners L.P. posted a $38.6 million net loss for the quarter ending Dec. 31, down from an $18.1 million net profit in 2018’s fourth quarter. The company posted a full-year net loss of $43.6 million, improving from a $55.1 million net loss for 2018.
Indianapolis-based Calumet’s fourth quarter sales revenue fell to $774.8 million, down 8.6 percent from $848 million in 2018s fourth quarter. Sales for the full year reached just over $3.4 billion, down slightly from $3.5 billion in sales for 2018.
For the fourth quarter, specialty products sales volumes slid to 22,137 barrels per day, down from 24,089 a year earlier. Lubricating oils declined to 10,420 b/d, down from 12,202 b/d. Packaged and synthetic specialty products decreased to 1,163 b/d, down from 1,581 b/d. Waxes declined to 1,015, down from 1,596 b/d.
Calumet recently announced its acquisition of Muncie, Indiana-based wax maker Paralogics LLC for an undisclosed amount. Paralogics makes pre-blended, soy-based and natural wax blends for candles. It also produces fully refined paraffin waxes.
In addition to the Paralogics acquisition on the wax side, the company has also increased its wax production capacity at its Shreveport, Louisiana, plant through some process debottlenecking, Scott Obermeier, Calumets executive vice president, commercial, said during a conference call with analysts. “We’re going to be unlocking some more capacity in Princeton [in New Jersey] on the naphthenic base oils side,” Obermeier added during the conference call. The Princeton plant currently has 6,900 barrels per day of naphthenic base oil production capacity, according to the Lubes’n’Greases 2019 Guide to Global Base Oil Refining.