After shrinking almost 10 percent in 2009, how did global lubricating grease production fare in 2010? That’s what the National Lubricating Grease Institute aims to find out, as it prepares this week to send out its annual Production Survey to lubricating grease companies worldwide. The confidential survey, conducted annually on behalf the Kansas City, Mo.-based trade and technical association, found that the global economic downturn has taken a heavy toll on the grease industry over the pa...

D-A Lubricants plans to move northwest from Indianapolis to Lebanon, Ind., to a new rail-served lubricants blending, processing and distribution facility. The lubricants supplier has purchased a 25-acre site where it will construct a 225,000 square foot facility. In addition to a blending, processing and packaging area, it will include a 13,000 square foot office, a technical lab, rail loading and offloading capabilities, and 11 dock doors. A groundbreaking is scheduled for March, with an esti...

Ashland subsidiary Hercules will sell its pentaerythritol business to Perstorp Polyols and eventually stop producing the polyalcohol compound at its Louisiana, Mo., plant, though it will continue to make synthetic lubricants there. The purchase price was not disclosed. The transaction includes transfer of the pentaerythritol business, related technology and some equipment. It doesnt include the manufacturing plant, any real estate or employees. Penta is used to make esters for use in synthetic...

Russias lubricant additives production volume grew about 7 percent in 2009 after declining more than 50 percent from 2001 to 2008, with surplus production capacity providing room for possible growth. Additives production in Russia in 2009 rebounded slightly to 48,000 metric tons, Timur Leimeter, department head at Srednye Volzhsky Research Institute of Oil Refining (SVNIINP), told the Engine Oil and Automobile Chemicals 2010 conference in Moscow Nov. 22. Lubricant additive production volumes i...

Growmark will spend $3.5 million to renovate its lubricant manufacturing facility in Council Bluffs, Iowa, which it acquired in 2006 from McCollister and Co. The renovation includes expanded bulk oil and engine coolant storage capacity, increased warehouse space and state-of-the-art equipment for solubilizing viscosity index improvers. Craig Stout, Growmarks director of lubricant operations, said the project demonstrates the companys commitment to its lubricant business. This renovation will e...

WD-40 Co.s net income totaled $9.1 million for the quarter ending Nov. 30, down 4 percent from the year-ago period, with net sales up 4 percent at $80.9 million. Earnings per share declined to 53 cents per diluted share in WD-40s fiscal first quarter, compared to 56 cents per share in the year-earlier quarter. San Diego-based WD-40s fiscal year runs from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31. First-quarter sales in the Americas declined 10 percent to $30.8 million, sales in Europe rose 13 percent to $30.8 million...

Europe surprisingly got off to a rather busy start to the year. Asia and the United States are taking longer to build up momentum after the holidays. U.S. Gulf Several key routes out of the U.S. Gulf have strengthened since the last report was written, while others have weakened. As expected, U.S. Gulf to Far East freights have come down from the year-end peaks but have not faded that much. For example, 5,000 ton cargoes from the U.S. Gulf to Mainport Far East still command levels in the high $...