Opening of the first foreign owned lubricants blending plant in Russia has been pushed back a year, to late 2011, but Shell is committed to completing it. The Hague, Netherlands-based company started the Russian lubricants blending project last year, stating it was a $100 million investment. The 180,000 tons per year plant located in Torzhok, Tver region was originally scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2010 or early next year, the company said. It will be one of the largest in the...

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The four best lubricant base oil refineries in the world arent the newest – two are solvent refiners and two use hydrocracking technology – but they are very, very cost efficient. When it comes to maintenance cost efficiency, the worlds four best base oil refineries spend just half of what, on average, all the others spend, Jamie Brunk of Solomon Associates told the ICIS Pan-American Base Oils & Lubricants Conference here last week. Best performance do...

Canada and Saskatchewan have invested $4.5 million in a three-year research initiative to develop camelina and Brassica carinata as oil seed crops to replace petroleum in some industrial lubricants and greases. Under the name Prairie Gold, nonprofit organization Genome Prairie will pilot the research project in collaboration with research companies and federal and provincial government partners. The research into the generic structure and plant breeding of camelina (false flax) and Brassica car...

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – By 2020, API Group I base oil capacity will decline to just 40 percent of total capacity, down from 60 percent today, and Group I plants need to plan wisely to survive, an expert cautions. Will Group I survive? Absolutely, Amy Claxton, principal of My Energy, told the ICIS Pan-American Base Oils & Lubricants Conference here last week. Heavy neutrals, bright stock and wax are very profitable and likely to continue so. But New Group II and III capacity and Group I ...

The European Commission on Dec. 1 approved BASFs acquisition of Cognis, but will require BASF to divest plants in Hythe, England, that manufacture polyalkylene glycols and PAG-based lubricants. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of this month. BASF will grant intellectual property rights that will allow the buyer to produce polyalkylene glycols and PAG-based lubricants, which are mainly used in industrial formulations and household products, exclusively for BASF for a transi...

Space out of the United States is drying up for December. Europe is at last starting to see some action for year-end but it is too little and too late to have much of an impact. Asia is steering a steady course. U.S. Gulf The market in the U.S. Gulf is building up for an interesting end of year. The rush to ship material to Asia has almost ceased. There have been some styrene and benzene/toluene/xylene requirements, and a large cargo of reformate has just been booked. The majority of scheduled s...