Volume 11 Issue 13

Berkshire Deal Could Prove Golden

Lubrizol CEO James Hambrick could receive up to $97.4 million through company stock options and other equity as part of Berkshire Hathaways $9.7 billion acquisition of the company, according to Lubrizols SEC filing on Friday. On March 14, the companies announced that Berkshire Hathaway would acquire100 percent of Lubrizols shares for $135 per share. After the close of the transaction, Lubrizol will operate as a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. Wickliffe, Ohio-based Lubrizols preliminary proxy ...

Essar Seals Deal for Stanlow

Essar Energy finally reached an agreement to buy Shells refinery in Stanlow, United Kingdom, the companies announced yesterday. The $350 million transaction includes an API Group I base oil plant with capacity to make 5,060 barrels per day. The companies have been negotiating off and on for the past 19 months. Last month they announced that Essar had offered $350 million and that they would negotiate exclusively with each other until April 1. Shell has divested several refineries in recent yea...

Gazprom Eyes Slovenia, Balkans

Russias Gazprom Neft and Slovenian energy company Petrol plan to cooperate on supply and marketing of lubricants and fuels in southern Europe and the Balkan states. Petrol Chairman Tomaz Berlocnik and Gazprom Neft Chairman Alexander Dyukov recently signed an agreement during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putins visit to Slovenia. Through the partnership, Gazproms Serbian subsidiary Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) will supply the Slovenian and other markets of southeastern and Central Europe wi...

Total Plans Tianjin Blend Plant

Total will invest 30 million (U.S. $42.3 million) in a 200,000 metric tons per year lubricant blending plant in Tianjin, China, to open in late 2012. The facility in the northern China coastal city will be wholly owned and operated by Total (Tianjin) Manufacturing, a new Total subsidiary in China. The blending plant will produce lubricants for the factory fill and after sales markets of its numerous [original equipment manufacturer] local and international partners, Total (China) Investment Co...

Central Europe Toots Its Horn

LONDON – Central Europe is a major crossroads and home to numerous thriving economies, and its lubricant market is following many of Western Europes quality trends – but with a certain delay. Foreign industrial investments and growing reliability are key trends affecting Central Europes lubricants market, Robert Uberman, development director for Krakow, Poland-based Orlen Oil, told the ICIS World Base Oils & Lubricants Conference here on Feb. 24. Uberman loosely defined Central...

SSY Base Oil Shipping Report

Its been busy in Europe and the U.S., but Asia is not quite as solid as before. Stricken plants are supplying fewer cargoes, or material is being kept for local use rather than sold for export. U.S. Gulf of Mexico Trade has picked up from the U.S. Gulf to the Caribbean, including aromatics and solvents. Return routes have been busier too with several methanol cargoes fixed. Space is tight from the Gulf to the west coast of Central America, and we have seen caustic and MTBE moving in this dir...