The market out of the U.S. Gulf is slow but not quite as fragile as before. Europe is struggling with a massive oversupply of tonnage and poor demand, while Asia remains the brightest of all regions. U.S. GulfCargo volumes out of the U.S. Gulf are still well below the levels that would be expected for the time of year, but there are one or two indicators that suggest flows are very slowly picking up. U.S. Gulf to Far East for instance is tight on June space, which is surprising since spot marke...

Cognis will increase prices on compounded lubricant and grease products, Vantage will raise prices for tallow based oleic acid, Oxea plans to hike costs for polyols used in synthetic lubricants, and Huntsman marked up prices on amines and carbonates utilized in lubricants production. Starting July 1, or as provided by individual contracts, Cognis will raise prices 6 to 9 percent on its Emgard, Proeco and Roadranger lines of compounded lubricant and grease products for the North American Free Tra...

A mineral oil based lubricant used as a coolant ignited at a Con Edison substation in Yonkers, N.Y., Saturday, causing two explosions and a blaze that took firefighters from 13 city fire companies about 90 minutes to extinguish. The incident occurred between 10 and 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning at the substation in the Dunwoodie neighborhood of Yonkers, according to Con Edison spokesman Chris Olert. It was a fire in a pump house, Olert told Lube Report. We have these cooling pump houses in locatio...

Do you know of or work at a machine shop or metalworking facility where biocides are used to control harmful microbes or fungus in the machining fluids? You may be just what the American Chemistry Council needs, to help measure worker exposure to antimicrobial products. The study, which will observe individual volunteers for one work shift, is gathering data that can help EPA to better understand real-world machinist exposure to biocides, and enable the agency to write improved safety standards ...

LAS VEGAS – Peter Drechsler, president of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers for 2010-2011, believes STLE can grow membership globally and share more knowledge by offering more activities online and collaborating with similar groups in other countries. Drechsler is confident STLEs annual conference has become the supreme platform for industry experts and researchers to share knowledge. He sees the organizations activities moving online, where they can be shared with anyo...

BASF started up a new 25,000 metric tons per year, highly reactive polyisobutene plant at its Ludwigshafen, Germany site, raising annual capacity there to 40,000 tons. HR PIB is a chemical intermediate used in additives for fuels and lubricants. Constructing the new plant took one and a half years, BASF spokesman Tim Forschler told Lube Report. In April 2008 BASF increased its annual capacity for the Glissopal brand highly reactive polyisobutene at its Antwerp, Belgium site from 75,000 to 100,0...

Kazakhstans first blending plant opened last week in the city of Shymkent as part of a national program for industry and innovation development, state information agency Kazinform reported last week. The blending plant has 70,000 metric tons per year capacity and cost more than $20 million, the agency said. The plant is in the citys industrial park on a six hectare (14.8 acres) site in southern Kazakhstan, according to Kazinform. The country has met its lubricants demand solely through imports, ...

API Group II base oil is steadily increasing its market space by displacing Group I in automotive and increasingly in industrial applications, consultancy Kline and Co. concluded in a recent study that assesses future global supply and demand for lubricant base stocks. Milind Phadke, project manager for Little Falls, N.J.-based Klines Energy Practice, discussed the companys report, Global Lubricant Basestocks 2009-2011, during a web presentation yesterday. Kline estimated the global base stocks...