Volume 11 Issue 17

Pemex Unplugs Dewaxer After Fire

A solvent leak from a seal in a dewaxing units pump led to a fire Sunday morning at Pemexs Salamanca, Mexico, refinery, whose base oil plant has 6,000 barrels per day API Group I capacity. According to government-owned Petroleos Mexicanos, its own fire personnel, with the support of three local fire units, implemented an emergency response plan and put out the fire, which was initially reported at 8:20 a.m. There were no injuries, Pemex said in a statement provided to Lube Report. The incident...

Afton Reports Strong 1Q

Afton Chemical, NewMarkets petroleum additives segment, posted $80.6 million in operating profit for the quarter ending March 31, up 14.5 percent from $70.4 million in the year-ago quarter. The petroleum additives segment reported $502.7 million in revenue for the first quarter, up more than 29 percent from $389.3 million in 2010s first quarter. NewMarket said the increase in sales reflects a 17 percent increase in shipments during the period. Our business continues to experience the adverse e...

Evergreen Rerefinery Still Offline

Evergreen Oils rerefinery in Newark, Calif., is out of operation while it makes repairs and addresses regulatory requirements following a March 29 fire. The rerefinery has 800 barrels per day of API Group II capacity. Alameda County Fire Department firefighters were dispatched to the Newark site at 5:37 a.m. on March 29, according to fire department spokeswoman Aisha Knowles. One of the Evergreen operators was executing a routine task and a heat exchanger failed, Knowles told Lube Report. So...

Valvoline Posts Mixed Results

Lubricant blender Valvoline reported operating income of $62 million for the quarter ending March 31, down 10 percent from $69 million in the year-earlier period, while sales reached $325 million, up almost 7 percent. According to parent company Ashland, total lubricant volume sold was 44.8 million gallons for the quarter, up 2.5 percent from the year-earlier quarter. The quarter ending March 31 is the second quarter of Ashlands fiscal year. Ashland noted that Valvolines selling, general and a...

Equity Firm Buys Plews

Private equity firm Eigen Capital acquired Plews & Edelmann, whose products include lubricant equipment and biobased lubricants, from British industrial conglomerate Tomkins plc. Terms were not disclosed. A good portion of the Plews business caters to the automotive aftermarket, and theres another element of the business that is consumer and industrial oriented, Eigen Capital partner Brian Duffy told Lube Report. That longstanding relationship with the automotive aftermarket, and its relat...

Fraud in Filipino Oil Purchases?

The Armed Forces of the Philippines on Thursday said it has sacked a senior logistics officer as it investigates irregularities in purchases of petroleum oil and lubricants. An April 21 Reuters report quoted AFP Chief of Staff General Eduardo Oban Jr. as saying the Philippines military consumes about 150 million pesos (U.S. $3.4 million) worth of petrol and lubricants every quarter, but auditors found it had spent about 400 million pesos during 2011s first quarter. The Armed Forces of the Phil...

SSY Base Oil Shipping Report

A lot of tonnage has been fixed into the U.S. Gulf which should make it easier to secure May space back out again. Europe has been fairly busy, while Asia continues at a slow pace. U.S. Gulf of Mexico For owners, the U.S. Gulf has been one of the better places in which to have a ship. Space has been scarce for a while now, and freight levels have been steadily rising. However, the month of May sees rather more open tonnage, and it is not being fixed away that quickly. It is conceivable that dem...