The U.S. lubricant industry will lose one of itstenured executives this quarter with the departure of Tony Soriano, president of Total Lubricants USA Inc. Soriano circulated a letter last week stating he will retire March 1, after 22 years leading Totals American subsidiary and its predecessor companies.
Sorianos letter said he will be replaced by Alain Cleret, who has been with the company for 24 years, the last five in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as regional director of lubricants for the Middle East and Central Asia.
Soriano has been in the lubes industry for 28 years, beginning with the former Cooks Industrial Lubricants, of Linden, N.J. He was president of Cooks by 1980, when it was acquired by Pennwalt Corp. and merged with an earlier acquisition, Keystone Lubricants, to form Pennwalts Lubrication Products Division, of which Soriano became president. In 1989, Pennwalt was acquired by Atochem, the chemicals business of Elf Acquitaine, which was acquired by TotalFina in 2000.