The market in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico has turned sloppy, causing some freights to droop. European coastal business is active, but deep-sea activity is thin. Asia has been a bit subdued over the past week. U.S. Gulf Coast: Generally speaking, the U.S. market has been quiet since Easter. Tonnage has begun to build up to some extent, although it has not reached the stage yet where it is causing freights to buckle. As with last week, there have been sufficient random movements that have absorbed mo...

Several major oil companies have recently notified U.S. customers of finished lubricant price increases that will take effect in late May, most citing increases in base oil and additives costs Shell will raise prices up to 4 percent on selected lubricants effective May 19. Chevron will hike prices by 3 to 6 percent on lubricating oils effective May 21. ConocoPhillips – now Phillips 66 – will increase prices by 3 to 5 percent on finished lubricant products, depending on product s...

A new era dawned at Phillips 66 yesterday, but to customers it will be business as usual as ConocoPhillips officially completed the separation of its upstream and downstream operations. There will be no change to the base oil business, a Phillips 66 source told Lube Report. We will be two separate publicly traded companies providing the products and services formerly offered under one roof. Phillips 66 base oil and lubricants will be the same as far as the marketplace is concerned. Headquart...

MOSCOW — Almost all vertically integrated oil companies in Russia have plans to upgrade their base oil plants, but Rosneft claims a leadership role by promising API Group II and III production next year. The company has already streamed a few batches of Group II and Group III base oils, but continuous production will start by the end of 2013 and continue in 2014, said Alexey Tarasov, chief technologist at Rosnefts Novokuibyshevsk Oils and Additives Plant. His comments were made at the 5th...

Afton Chemical and Quaker Chemical each reported increases in sales and operating profit for the first quarter, compared to the year-ago quarter. NewMarket, Afton Chemicals parent company, said its petroleum additives segment reported operating profit of $107.2 million for the first quarter, up 33 percent from $80.6 million in the 2011s first quarter. The petroleum additives segment posted $557.7 million in revenue for the first quarter, up 11 percent from $502.7 million in the year-earlier per...

Led by strong growth in Asia, global industrial grease consumption is projected to grow about 2.6 percent per year, from 695,000 metric tons in 2011, to 790,000 metric tons in 2016, according to Kline & Co. Asia is the fastest growing industrial grease market, with 4 percent annual growth from 2011 to 2016, said Milind Phadke, India-based director for Klines Energy Practice, during a webinar April 17. The grease market growth was driven by industrialization, including growth in mining and ...

South Korean base oil refiners SK Lubricants and S-Oil both reported drops in operating income while claiming revenue increases for the first quarter, compared to the year-earlier quarter. At SK Lubricants, first-quarter operating profit fell to 100 billion won (U.S. $88.4 million) from 130.6 billion won a year ago, a decrease of 23 percent. Sales, however, rose to 737.4 billion won from 672.9 billion won, up 9.6 percent. Production cost increases from rising oil prices and a decrease in off-se...

Irans Pars Oil is preparing to open a second grease plant at its refinery near Tehran. Officials said the new plant, which will have capacity of 2,000 metric tons per year, will allow the company to expand the range of greases that it offers. Pars has a refinery in a Tehran suburb and already operates a 9,000 t/y grease plant there. The company claims to supply more than 60 percent of Irans grease demand. The new plant is scheduled to open in three months, three and a half years after Pars beg...