First quarter sales for Indianapolis-based Calumet topped $1.3 billion, up slightly from $1.2 billion in 2012s first quarter.

Specialty products sales volumes in the first quarter reached 37,989 barrels per day, up 1 percent from the year earlier period. The specialty products segment sales volumes in the first quarter included 12,127 b/d of lubricating oils, 8,561 b/d of solvents, 1,234 b/d of waxes and 1,950 b/d of packaged and synthetic specialty products, which represents production at Calumets Royal Purple, TruSouth and Missouri facilities.

Although our results were adversely impacted by reliability issues at our Shreveport refinery during the first quarter, the second quarter is off to a good start, supported by strong refining economics and improved utilization at our key production facilities, stated Bill Grube, vice chairman and chief executive officer of Calumet Specialty Products Partners. Beginning in early April, both demand and pricing for products sold in our core markets improved above first quarter levels.

During the next 12-24 months, Calumet intends to complete a series of high-return capital projects at several of its key production facilities, Grube noted.

Some of the more impactful projects being evaluated include a crude oil loading dock on Lake Superior; capacity expansions at the Montana refinery and our synthetic esters plant in Missouri; product expansions at our San Antonio refinery; product upgrades at our Royal Purple facility, as well as the start-up of our North Dakota diesel refinery joint venture, which is slated to be completed during the fourth quarter 2014, he continued. Grube said the company plans to provide additional details on each of the projects at its upcoming annual Investor and Analyst Day June 10 at the NASDAQ Market Site in New York.