LONDON – 2009 was a very difficult year. Seven refineries with base oil plants were on the block; one closed and three more closures were announced. Yet over 1.5 million tons per year of new base oil capacity streamed and 2.4 million t/y were announced, Steve Ames said. Will 2010 be any better? Industry consultant Stephen Ames, principal of SBA Consulting, Pepper Point, Ohio, gave a fact-filled review of 2009 and a glimpse of the future at the ICIS World Base Oils & Lubricants Confe...

LONDON – Bucking the global recession, Chinas lubricant demand rose more than 6 percent from 2008 to 2009, to 6 million metric tons. PetroChina expects lube consumption to climb to nearly 8 million tons by 2015, but the country will need to import more than 2 million tons of base oils annually to satisfy that demand. Kong Jinyuan, senior engineer and registered consultant with PetroChina Planning & Engineering Institute in Beijing, provided timely supply-and-demand and pricing data o...

Saudi Arabias Luberef is considering an upgrade of its Yanbual Bahr base oil plant but has not made a final decision to proceed with the project. The project being contemplated would make the facility a producer of API Group II base stocks with capability to make Group III, said an industry source familiar with the proposal. Speaking on condition that he not be identified, the source told Lube Report that the project has not yet been presented to the companys board of directors. Saudi Aramco L...

Castrol distributor Wakefield Canada has agreed to purchase the Castrol Canada blending and packaging plant in Toronto from BP Lubricants USA. The acquisition cost was not disclosed. BP Lubricants earlier this year said it would explore options for the Toronto facility, and Wakefield was one of several parties to submit proposals. BP Lubricants signed a non-binding letter of intent with Wakefield. The two companies have worked since then to reach an agreement. For us its a case of better effic...

A record number of U.S. motor oil buyers reported making their purchase at a special discount price, according to market research company NPD Groups ongoing Car Care Trac survey of consumers automotive purchases. For the 12 months ending November 2009, 22 percent of consumers surveyed by NPD reported they paid a special or sale price for motor oil, compared to 16 percent in 2007. In this economic environment, consumers are really looking for a deal price-wise, David Portalatin, industry analys...

As part of a collaborative effort with Lubrizol, University of Warwick researchers have created starfish-like, self-healing polymers for possible use in additives to extend the life of automotive engine oils. In its recent announcement, the Coventry, U.K. based university noted that polymers are often added to automotive oils to control important physical properties such as viscosity, but mechanical and thermal stress can break the polymers. That decreases the efficiency and their effect on the...

Trade volumes globally are encouraging. Europe continues to see good demand internally. Americas market is active, and finding March space for certain destinations is proving arduous. Asian markets have reawakened after the holidays with plenty of shipping requirements. U.S. Gulf of Mexico Virtually every single prompt ship in the U.S. Gulf is accounted for, making it very difficult to cover any prompt requirement. As we go further into March, there are possibilities to pick up completion spac...