Russia’s antitrust regulator approved last week Lukoil’s purchase of Shell’s retail and lubricants business in the country. The assets include a network of 411 filling stations and a state-of-the-art 180,000-metric-tons-per-year lube blending plant in Torzhok. The Federal Antimonopoly Service approved the sale of 99.9% shares of Shell Neft, the British energy giant’s subsidiary in Russia, to Lukoil, the largest privately owned oil company in the country.

Finished lubricant consumption in France increased to 52,948 metric tons in March, up 2% from the same month last year, according to data released by the Paris-based Professional Lubricants Center. Automotive lubricants demand rose 3% to 29,216 tons.

The Spanish Association of Lubricants and Sigaus, a non-profit waste oil collector, have formed a joint venture to manage commercial and industrial lubricant packaging waste for lubricant blenders on a set of Spanish Mediterranean islands. Genci was formed in response to a provision from the government of the Balearic Islands requiring companies to establish what it calls extended producer responsibility systems.