Volume 11 Issue 46

Lubrizol Buys Greasemaker Chemtool

Lubrizol agreed to acquire Chemtool, saying its private label grease manufacturing is a good fit with Lubrizols additives business. Terms were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter, following regulatory approvals. Val Pakis, Lubrizols vice president for driveline and industrial additives, said Chemtool provides a service to its customers doing things some customers no longer want to do, which is a model familiar to Lubrizol. We have this custom solutions model her...

Nynas Copes with Refinery Fire

Nynas is working to resume production after an Oct. 23 fire at its naphthenic base oil refinery in Nynashamn, Sweden. The refinery in Nynashamn has 7,800 barrels per day naphthenic base oil capacity. The fire started at about 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 23 at the Nynashamn refinery. No injuries occurred. According to Nynas, the fire took place in a heat exchanger in a production unit located away from oil tanks. A refinery fire brigade worked with rescue services to put out the fire, which was extingu...

Evergreen Oil Restarts

Evergreen Oil recently restarted its rerefinery in Newark, Calif., following seven months of repair and modification of operations. The plant closed after a fire stemming from a failed heat exchanger on March 29. Evergreen on Nov. 9 announced it put the rerefinery back in operation Oct. 18. The site has 80 employees. The API Group II rerefinery has two trains, according to Evergreen Oil spokesman Mark Williams. The newest train is up and running, and the old train is down so were at about 50 pe...

COP Downstream Becomes Phillips 66

ConocoPhillips on Thursday said its new independent downstream business, including base oil and lubricants, will be named Phillips 66 and headquartered in Houston. In July, the company announced it would separate its upstream and downstream businesses into two separate, publicly-traded corporations, spinning off its refining and marketing to shareholders. The move did not require a shareholder vote. Subject to regulatory approvals, the separation is expected to be completed in the second quarte...

Mixed Results for Valvoline

Lubricant blender Valvolines operating income reached $29 million for the quarter ending Sept. 30, down 46.3 percent from $54 million in the year-earlier period, while sales topped $517 million, up 12 percent. The sales increase came despite a 6 percent decline in lubricant volume from the year-earlier period to 41.5 million gallons. The quarter ending Sept. 30 is the fourth quarter of Valvoline parent company Ashlands fiscal year. Ashland attributed the majority of Valvolines lubricant volume...

SSY Base Oil Shipping Report

The U.S. market witnessed a busy, exciting week with freight increases reported all over. European action was not as frantic, but business has been solid nonetheless. Asia is the quietest of the major markets. U.S. Gulf of Mexico The U.S. market was flooded with new business over the past week or so, leaving behind very few prompt ships. Consequently, freight levels have risen, dramatically in some cases. U.S. Gulf-to-Asia for example cleared the $90/t barrier for 5,000 ton parcels from Houston ...