Luberef launched an initiative to encourage lubricant blenders to locate at a site adjacent to its base oil plant in Yanbu’ al Bahr, Saudi Arabia, the company’s top executive told attendees of the ICIS World Base Oils & Lubricants Live virtual conference on Feb. 16. The company wants to secure a reliable outlet for its products while localizing more production of imported products.

Belarus has decided effectively to bypass Latvia and Lithuania as its main reloading ports for petrochemical exports, including base oils and lubricants, and send them to foreign markets from Russian ports instead. The transport ministries of Belarus and Russia signed an agreement last week under which westbound petrochemical exports from the former country are to be reloaded primarily through the settlement of Ust-Luga, Russia’s westernmost Baltic port.

The Mechanical Engineering Industry Association in Germany last week urged the European Commission to change course on the development of Euro 7, arguing that the current direction for the region’s next automobile emissions standard could hurt the environment as well as the economy. For the current decade governments should encourage use of alternative fuels that could greatly reduce emissions from internal combustion engines, the group said.