The U.S. Gulf is not showing any serious signs of a summer recess so far. Europe has got off to a slow start to August, while in Asia market conditions are no better than before, but nor have they deteriorated further.-by Adrian Brown

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange refused to say Wednesday whether it intends to boot Tianhe Chemicals from the exchange after the lubricant additive supplier failed to meet a deadline for trading of its stock to resume.

Japan's Adeka Corp. will complete an expansion of its lubricant additive plant this month, and seeks to expand sale of its engine oil additives to the United States and China, a company representative told Lube Report.

GP Petroleums, citing lower expenditures and taxes, and Apar Industries each posted a large increase in net profit for the quarter ended June 30.