Capital expenditures at Lubrizol Additives will likely top $300 million this year and $250 million in 2013, the company’s president told a recent industry meeting. Much of the money will go to construct an additives plant on a greenfield site in China, for research laboratories in Asia, and for upgrades to existing manufacturing facilities in Texas and France. After 2013, the additive company expects to continue investing at the rate of around $200 million a year to improve its infrastruc...

STUTTGART, Germany – Mercedes-Benz has adopted a wide-ranging upgrade of service-fill engine oil specifications for its passenger cars and heavy-duty trucks. The standards, which were unveiled here at the Uniti Mineral Oil Technology Conference on March 21, feature new or tougher requirements for fuel economy, compatibility with biofuels, cold and high temperature performance and protection from wear. The automaker acknowledged that the addition of several new tests will increase costs fo...

One Equity Partners on Friday acquired white oils producer Sonneborn from Sun Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount. Sonneborn supplies white oils, petrolatums, waxes and other hydrocarbon specialty products, and has plants in Petrolia, Pa., and in the Netherlands. The Parsipanny, N.J.-based company has about 350 employees. New York City-based One Equity Partners and Sun Capital Partners of Boca Raton, Fla., are both private investment firms. The transaction is a pivotal point in Sonnebor...

German lubricant producer Rowe Mineraloelwerk GmbH is building a second blending plant to accommodate the growth of its business. The facility – scheduled to open next year in Worms, Germany – will have capacity to make 120,000 metric tons per year. Production at our plant in Bubenheim is approaching capacity, so we needed to expand, Marketing Assistant Rainer Sauer told Lube Report last week. Plus, having two plants will allow us to separate lubricants production from other fluids ...

MOSCOW – Russias grease production is expected to grow at an annual rate of 5 to 7 percent after 2014, when new plants will be launched, a research study found. By 2020, domestic grease production will meet 80 percent of the nations demand, up from less than 60 percent today. Russias grease production is recovering from the 2008-2009 global recession. In 2011 it totaled 42,000 metric tons, valued at 1.6 billion rubles (U.S. $54.6 million), Olga Voloshina of InfoMine, a Moscow based consul...