Volume 10 Issue 18

API SN Crosses Finish Line

APIs Lubricants Committee approved the SN and SN Resource Conserving passenger car engine oil categories, with first licensing Oct. 1, 2010, launching alongside ILSAC GF-5. The thumbs-up came in spite of continued opposition from automakers. API SN will be an upgrade of the current API SM category, identified by the API Donut trademark. It aims to address the full spectrum of engine oil viscosity grades, including those not covered under the ILSAC specification, such as SAE 10W-40. SN Resource ...

UAW Again Demands MWF Standard

The UAW last week resurrected its 1993 petition to the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration, calling for a comprehensive standard for occupational exposure to metalworking fluids that includes a permissible exposure limit of 0.5 mg/m3 or less, medical surveillance, exposure monitoring and other protections. The UAW petitions OSHA to take this action based on a large body of additional scientific evidence for respiratory disease and cancer caused by exposure to metalworking flui...

Dunkerque Base Oil Plant Changes Hands

Road builder Colas Group is close to completing purchase of a base oil plant in Dunkerque, France, and said it plans to continue making base stocks at the site. European competition authorities indicated April 26 that they will not contest Colas Groups purchase of Societe de la Raffinerie de Dunkerque, according to Bloombergs BusinessWeek web site. The plant, which has capacity to make 6,600 barrels per day of base oil, is currently a joint venture between ExxonMobil, Total and BP, which own s...

Rerefiners Eye Profits, Growth

MOSCOW – Rerefiners see great potential to expand profitable API Group II production in Europe, and even to introduce rerefining in Russia. Although rerefining is nonexistent in Russia, it has great potential there too, speakers said at the World Refining Associations Base Oils & Lubricants in Russia Conference here, March 23-25. Establishing effective waste oil collection systems, and using the rerefined oils to produce competitively priced, quality lubriants are parallel goals dr...

Q1 Reflects Recovery

Lubrizols additives segment, independent lubricant blender Fuchs, and lubricant supplier Quaker Chemical each reported an increase in profit for the first quarter, compared to the year-earlier quarter. Meanwhile, South Korean base oil refiner S-Oil saw improved revenues but a slight decline in operating profit compared to 2009s first quarter. Lubrizol The Lubrizol Additives segment reported operating income of $246.4 million for the quarter ending March 31, up 107.6 percent from $118.7 million ...

Acuras Recalled for Fluid Leak

Honda Motor Co. has recalled 167,255 model year 2004 to 2008 Acura TSX sedans because flawed hose could lead to power steering fluid leaks and possible engine fires. The recall is expected to begin May 28. Prolonged high under-hood temperatures may cause the power steering hose to deteriorate prematurely, and may cause the hose to crack and leak power steering oil, Honda said in its April 29 recall letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration. Oil leaking onto a hot exhaust pipe ...

Russia Promises Arctic Cleanup

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday promised a spring cleanup of industrial and toxic waste in the Arctic region, including barrels of lubricants, the state news agency Itar-Tass reported. The toxic waste is in an area of approximately 100 hectares, or about one million square meters. Scientists estimated that that up to 250,000 barrels of 40,000 to 60,000 tons of lubricants and fuels were piled up in the Arctic region, the report noted, along with empty barrels, planes, cars, rad...

SSY Base Oil Shipping Report

Poor demand has been reported in many of the routes out of the U.S. Gulf and Europe, causing freights to soften. Asian markets are hanging on to unchanged freight levels, but the amount of open space is growing. U.S. Gulf of Mexico U.S. markets have been undermined by a surplus of tonnage, and rates on some routes have weakened even further. Numbers into Brazil and Argentina for example have dropped down into the low-to-mid $40s/ton for 5,000 ton parcels, and with space still being seen on this...