Demand for space remained slight out of the U.S. Gulf, probably due to the long holiday weekend. European volumes are thin. Deep-sea business failed to ignite, consigning many ships to another week of watching and waiting. Asia remains steady. U.S. Gulf of Mexico The U.S. market closed early in anticipation of the 4th July holiday weekend and thus did not contribute much to world trade. U.S. Gulf-to-Far East for instance saw very little new enquiry apart from a few parcels of phenol and ethanol...

Heartland Automotive Services, the largest U.S. Jiffy Lube franchisee, will relocate its corporate office from Omaha, Neb., to Dallas before the end of this year. Efficient accessibility to all markets was a key factor in the decision to relocate the corporate office to the Dallas area with the [Dallas Fort Worth] airport located minutes from the office complex, Alan Barrington, Heartland vice president of human resources, told Lube Report. The Dallas area is also well suited to meet the needs ...

Thompson Street Capital Partners acquired Express Oil Change, a chain of 172 U.S. quick lubes, from Carousel Capital for an undisclosed amount. Based in Birmingham, Ala., Express Oil Change and its franchisees operate 172 service centers in Alabama, Georgia, Tenneessee, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas. Founded in 1979, Express provides oil change services, along with light automotive service and repair work. On June 28 Carousel said it acquired a majority ownership posit...

SEOUL – Lubricant markets are recovering, but the post recession world will be very different, Kline predicts. API Group II will be the new Group I, and a few large players will dominate in Group III, which will become the automotive factory-fill product of choice. Consultancy Kline & Co.s India-based Energy Manager Milind Phadke highlighted base oil market trends in the post-recession world at the ICIS Asian Base Oils & Lubricants Conference here last month. Kline has projected...

Colas Group announced Friday that it has closed on its acquisition of Societe de la Raffinerie de Dunkerque, a French bitumen and base oil plant with capacity to make 6,600 barrels per day of base stocks. Colas said the transaction calls for it to supply some base stocks to the former owners but that it will also sell some of that material on the open market. Colas is also very well aware of the importance of the baseoils for the plant, and Colas is taking the necessary steps to be present on ...

On July 1 the American Petroleum Institute polled its Lubricants Group on declaring the GL-4 gear oil category a service designation not in current use. If approved, API GL-4 will become obsolete on July 31. API GL-4 has been a part of the gear oil family for many years, denoting lubricants intended for axles with spiral bevel gears operating under moderate to severe conditions of speed and load or axles with hypoid gears operating under moderate speeds and loads. Although this service designati...

Infineum Singapore has begun preparations for a new salicylate manufacturing plant at its Jurong Island, Singapore, site, with startup expected in 2013. Salicylate is a detergent used in automotive, heavy-duty and marine engine oil formulations. Completion of front-end engineering and design by Foster Wheeler Asia Pacific is expected in early 2011. The construction phase is scheduled for 2012 to 2013, with commissioning and startup to occur in the second half of 2013. The plant has been locat...

Chemtura is seeking bankruptcy court approval to expedite sale of its share in a Dutch joint venture for $5 million to white oil producer Sonneborn B.V. If the sale goes through, Sonneborn would withdraw its bankruptcy court claim of $14.2 million in remediation costs, pension benefits costs and certain trade receivables. According to court documents filed June 30, a hearing to approve the sale is scheduled for July 21. Chemturas and Sonneborns Dutch affiliates formed a 50-50 joint venture in ...