Several major oil companies and independents have informed U.S. customers of increases in finished lubricant price increases over the last few weeks, citing rising base oil, additive and packaging costs as key factors. An official with a distributor said the price hikes likely stem from a combination of those key factors, along with tightness on the heavy grades. Some of them also used transportation increases as a reason, this source told Lube Report. Fuel surcharges are up, and the freight ra...

Cibas lube additive products and manufacturing sites are continuing on after the completion of the companys acquisition by BASF, although the Ciba name itself has been phased out. In July 2009, Ludwigshafen, Germany-based BASF said it was reviewing strategic options – including restructuring, sale or closure – for 23 of the 55 former Ciba production site worldwide it acquired in June. None of the former Ciba sites that manufacture products for lubricant additives were or will be aff...

The Fuchs Petrolub group has opened a lubricant blending and packaging plant in Khartoum, Sudan. The facility is operated by Fuchs licensee in Sudan, Petrobash Multiactivities Co. Petrobash, which is based in Khartoum, was serving as Fuchs distributor in Sudan before the companies agreed to expand the operation. The plant has capacity to make 36,000 metric tons of lubricants per year with its current staffing of one shift per day. It opened late last year, according to Fuchs vice president for ...

Afton Chemical reported a hefty increase in operating profit and revenue for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2009, compared to the year-earlier period. Meanwhile, South Korean base oil refiner S-Oils lubricants division reported declines in quarterly operating profit and sales, compared to 2008s fourth quarter. Afton Chemical parent NewMarket Corp. on Thursday said its petroleum additives segment reported a $65.8 million operating profit for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2009, up more than 102 percen...

An explosion Jan. 24 at the Pertamina base oil plant in Cilicap, Indonesia, injured two workers and halted production at one of the plants two units. National oil company Pertaminas base oil plant in Indonesias West Java province has about 8,600 barrels per day of API Group I capacity. Spokesman Basuki Trikora Putra told Lube Report that the explosion occurred about 9:15 a.m. on Jan. 24. Putra confirmed that the explosion resulted from a flash in a component of a lubricant oil cooling unit, not...

Dutch chemicals and lubricant supplier BRB International announced last week that it has opened an office and warehouse in Krakow, Poland. The new location operates as BRB Central Eastern Europe and will serve customers in that region. BRB is based in Ittervoort, Netherlands and supplies lubricant additives and other chemicals to lube blenders, as well as the cosmetics, graphics, automotive and other industries. It also supplies some finished lubricants. Officials called the Krakow facilities ...

The U.S. market is fairly active in all directions bar Asia. Europe too put up a strong performance with the exception of routes into Asia. Somewhat unexpectedly therefore, local Asian markets have been busy both locally and on the export scene. U.S. Gulf of Mexico February is generating more interest in the U.S. Gulf-to-Caribbean arena. Pockets of space do still exist, primarily for Central American destinations, but levels are not necessarily cheap. A 1,000 ton parcel from Houston to Venezuel...

Do you need to learn the basics about base oils? Or do you need a more advanced course covering differences among producers, profitability of plants and quality trends? ICIS is offering two day-long courses in London Feb. 15 and 16, presented by My Energys Amy Claxton, in advance of the ICIS World Base Oils Conference. To learn more, click here. Puzzled about the differences between solvent-refined API Group I and hydroprocessed Group II/III base stocks? Curious whether Group II+ is really a pl...