Smittys Supply Inc. is investing $10 million on a Louisiana expansion that includes new warehouse and corporate office buildings. The lubricants blender, packager and distributor held a groundbreaking ceremony Friday at the site in Arcola, La., north of Roseland, where Smittys is headquartered. Ed Smith, owner, president and CEO of Smittys, said the expansion is on 23 acres of land acquired about a year ago from Ballard Petroleum and Blanchard Mechanical. The warehouse will be in operation by ...

Indonesias state-owned oil and natural gas corporation has indicated that it is focused on expanding its lubricants footprint in Japan. Jakarta-based Pertamina, with revenues of more than $60 billion in 2011, announced the pitch at a recent gathering of senior lubricants officials in Tokyo earlier this month. During the gathering, Pertamina President Karen Agustiawan underscored the companys strategic goal of expanding to Japan and other overseas markets. Agustiawan noted that Pertamina has a ...

Heritage-Crystal Cleans oil business, including oil collection and rerefining posted $29.9 million in sales in its third quarter, compared to $9.6 million in the year-earlier quarter. The oil business sales include base oil sales from its rerefinery in Indianapolis, which had only produced intermediate products and byproducts in 2011s third quarter. As a whole, Elgin, Ill.-based Heritage-Crystal Clean reported $1 million in net income for the third fiscal quarter ending Sept. 8, on $62.1 milli...

PRAGUE – When it comes to lubricants, Middle Eastern markets have been resilientin the face of the regions political and social volatilities, giving marketers good growth prospects if they know their competition and what strategy to follow, an analyst said. Iran,a 700-million-liter marketin 2011, is the regions biggest lubricants market, followed by Saudi Arabia, which consumed 360 million liters, and Iraq at 175 million liters, according to Steve King, director of SJK Marketing Services....

Turkish lubricant marketer Petroyag is building a second lubricant blending plant. The new facility, located in Gebze, Turkey, will have capacity to make 50,000 tons per year. The company, which is headquartered in Kosekoy, Turkey, offers a wide variety of industrial lubricants, some of which it manufacturesand sells under its own brands, others distributed on behalf of other suppliers. Formed in 1993, Petroyag currently operates a 30,000 t/y blending and filling plant in Golcuk, Turkey, on the...

Finlands Ministry of Environment is partnering with used oil collector Lassila & Tikanoja in arranging nationwide waste oil management services under an agreement that goes into effect in 2013. The five-year agreement signed earlier this month involves the collection of used lubricating oil from customers throughout Finland and then transporting it to be processed for later reuse. According to the announcement, 30,000 metric tons of waste oil is annually generated in the nation. The natio...

U.S. markets continue to see some areas where demand is increasing, and there are not so many open positions. Europe had a very poor week with most routes reporting a decline in business. Asia remains buoyant with good opportunities all round. U.S. Gulf of Mexico The main route out of the U.S. Gulf is the Gulf-to-Far East service, a route that has been depressed for a long time. The past week however has seen a run in the amount of business quoted that requires October loading, and those owner...