The SAE J300 Engine Oil Viscosity Classification Task Force met recently to review the status of proposals for new, lower-viscosity grades of engine oil. Interest in these new grades is prompted mainly by the automotive OEMs’ desire to capture every drop of fuel economy possible through reductions in friction due to the oil. If successful, the introduction of lower-vis grades promises to have lasting impact on engine oil blenders and their base oil suppliers. SAE J300, the engine oil visc...

Fuchs Petrolub will build a 20 million (U.S. $29 million) blending plant in Kaluga, Russia, to provide factory-fill lubricants to OEMs in the region. Expected to go online by fall 2012, the blending plant will be in Rosva industrial park, southwest of Kaluga city. Its planned capacity is 40,000 [metric] tons of finished lubricants per year, and it will be operated by staff of around 40 people, Maria Sokolova, Fuchs Oil spokeswoman, told Lube Report. The facility expands Fuchs current production...

The metalworking fluids market in North America, Asia and Europe is projected to grow at about 3 percent per year, from 2.1 million metric tons in 2010, to nearly 2.5 million tons in 2015, according to Kline & Co. Asia is the fastest growing market with 5 percent annual growth from 2010 to 2015, said Milind Phadke, India-based project manager for Klines Energy Practice, during a webinar June 29. Over those five years, Kline projects North Americas metalworking fluids market will grow 2 perc...

The European Council yesterday said it plans to review its anti-dumping duty on furfuraldehyde solvent from China because pricing and market changes suggest the duty at its existing level may no longer be necessary. On May 4, the council renewed the duty at 352 (U.S. $509) per metric ton on furfural, which is used in base oil production. The EU first imposed an anti-dumping duty on furfural imports from China in January 1995. After reviews, the duty was extended in 1995, 2005 and in May 2011. P...