This past weeks third-quarter financial reports brought solid earnings for Afton Chemical and Quaker Chemical, while profits for South Korean base oil refiners SK Lubricants and S-Oil tumbled, compared to year-earlier results.
Afton Chemical
Afton Chemical posted operating profit of $95.5 million in the quarter ending Sept. 30, down less than 1 percent from $96.3 million in the year-earlier quarter. Additives segment revenue reached $577.6 million, up 5.5 percent from $547.7 million in 2012s third quarter.
We expect that our petroleum additives operating profit in 2013 will exceed last years result, said Thomas Gottwald, president and CEO of Afton parent NewMarket.
As a whole, Richmond, Va.-based Newmarket reported net income of $78.9 million, or $5.94 per diluted share, in the third quarter. That was up almost 22 percent from net income of $64.7 million, or $4.83 per diluted share, in the year-earlier quarter.
SK Lubricants
SK Lubricants posted operating income of 62.7 billion South Korean won (U.S. $59 million) for the third quarter, down more than 41 percent from a year earlier.
Sales of 740.4 billion won were down 4 percent from 2012s third quarter.
SK of Seoul operates base oil refineries in Ulsan, South Korea, that have 40,000 b/d API Group II and III capacity, including a joint venture with JX Nippon Oil. The SK-Pertamina joint ventures base oil plant in Dumai, Indonesia, has 10,000 b/d Group III capacity. Next year, the SK-Repsol joint venture base oil plant in Cartagena, Spain, is expected to bring an additional 12,000 b/d Group II and III capacity.
S-Oil
S-Oils lube segment reported third-quarter operating profit of 40.2 billion won, down 47.3 percent from the previous years third quarter revenue of 76.3 billion won.
Revenue for the fourth quarter reached 446.7 billion won, down 17 percent from 538 billion won in the year-earlier quarter.
In its earnings presentation, S-Oil said rising demand for high quality lube base oil will likely be offset by continuous supply increase along with start-up of new capacities concentrated in the fourth quarter of 2013.
S-Oils Onsan, South Korea, refinery has 16,200 b/d Group III, 21,800 b/d Group II and 500 b/d Group III capacity.
Quaker Chemical
Lubricant supplier Quaker Chemical Corp. reported net income of $13.3 million for the third quarter, up 14.7 percent from 2012s third quarter. The companys net sales reached $184.1 million, up 1.7 percent from $181 million in the year-earlier quarter.
Despite the weak market conditions in various parts of the world, we continue to produce solid operating results by growing our market share and leveraging our recent acquisitions as well as continuing to align our cost structure to market realities, said Michael Barry, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Conshohocken, Pa.-based Quaker Chemical.