The market in the U.S. Gulf is fairly lifeless apart from the transatlantic trades. Europe is struggling with massive oversupply of tonnage in most directions, while Asia continues in a fairly buoyant mood. U.S. Gulf of MexicoOnly the transatlantic route has shown any promise this week. Heavy volumes of styrene, cyclohexane, cumene and glycols have been showing, which help remove some of the surplus tonnage. Freight rates curiously took a dive earlier in the week, but are now beginning to show...

In August, Chrysler will recallup to 22,379 model year 2010 Jeep Liberty and Wrangler, Dodge Nitro and Ram 1500 vehiclesbecause a brake tube issue could lead to a brake fluid leak. Investigation determined that a small percentage of primary and secondary brake tube assemblies – which are attached between the master cylinder and the hydraulic control unit (HCU) – were experiencing pressure loss at the flared ends attached to the HCU. That situation could, after a period of time, lead...

WD-40s net income reached $9.1 million for its third quarter ending May 31, up 32.2 percent from the same quarter in 2009. Earnings per share climbed to 54 cents per diluted share in the third quarter, compared to 41 cents per share in the year-earlier quarter. San Diego-based WD-40s fiscal year runs from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31. WD-40 overall recorded $82.6 million in net sales, up 20 percent from the same quarter in 2009. Third quarter sales in the Americas grew 13.1 percent to $46.5 million, sale...

Dytech Fluid Technologies plans to build a lubricants blending plant in Nis, a town in southern Serbia. Torino, Italy-based Dytech is a lubricants and specialty fluids producer that is a supplier for European automaker Fiat. The blending plant project has been closely outlined to the Serbian authorities, though no official agreement has been signed yet, Dytech told Lube Report last week, declining to provide further details. According to the plan, the construction of the plant should begin in S...

Heritage-Crystal Clean plans to build its new 2,000 barrels per day API Group II base oil rerefinery in Indianapolis adjacent to its existing operations. Production will begin in mid 2012. The project has an estimated capital cost of $40 million. The rerefinery site is recently acquired property in the town of Speedway, within Indianapolis. We purchased it last year because we already had a number of strategic assets at that site including our largest hub operation and our solvent recycling sys...

Somali pirates hijacked a tanker carrying lubricating oil July 4 in the southern Red Sea. The Philippine government last week indicated the ships Filipino crew was safe and that the ships owner was negotiating their release. The attack occurred in northern Bab Al Mandeb, between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs stated July 6. The hijacked 13,065 metric ton chemical tanker MT Motivator has a crew of 18 Filipinos, the European Union Naval ...

Chemical Engineering Partners will build an API Group II rerefinery for used oil collector and rerefiner Lwart Group at its site in Lencois Paulista, Brazil. The projects size, cost and construction timeline were not disclosed. We have received many inquiries from South America, and think there are some excellent opportunities in this region, said Mark Williams, CEP business development manager, in Mondays announcement. There are no Group II base oils in South America, neither crude refinery no...