Volume 2 Issue 50

SSY Base Oil Shipping Report

Adrian Brown is away. His column will reappear in the Dec. 17 edition of Lube Report EMEA.

Base Oil Quota Pressures European Market

Following the European Commissions adoption last month of a quota on duty-free API Group II base oil imports, industry sources say the measure is already stirring the European market with concerns that the threshold is too low.

Russian Base Oil Exports Stabilize

Russian base oil export volumes are off an estimated 1 percent this year after a sharp 12 percent decline in 2018, an industry insider estimates. An official from chemicals trader DYM Resources told a recent conference that volumes could rebound thanks to improving economics and capacity expansions.

Fuchs Buys Shares in African Distributors

The Fuchs Group acquired half the shares of three separate African lubricant distributors to strengthen its presence in the continents Sub-Saharan region, the company announced last week.

From Other Editions of Lube Report

Briefly Noted

Vivo Energy Morocco, a Shell lubricants distributor, named George Roberts general manager on Dec. 1, succeeding Bernard Le Goff. The Department of Urban Planning of the City of Cartagena in Spain granted a work and activity license for the expansion of a joint venture base oil plant owned by SK Lubricants and Repsol. The companies announced the expansion in July of this year.