LISBON, Portugal-European lubricant demand is caught in the same doldrums as the European economy, and neither is likely to return to its vibrant past anytime soon, delegates to the 2012 Congress of the European Lubricants Industry were told. Overall, since the turn of the century, European lubricants volume declined by 25 percent, Apu Gosalia of Fuchs Petrolub Group told the opening session of the UEIL Congress here. Gosalia, head of global strategic marketing and chief sustainability officer ...

Essar Energy confirmed this week that it plans eventually to close the base oil plant at its Stanlow, U.K., refinery. But the Indian company, which bought the refinery last year, said that contractual issues must be resolved first and that no timeline for the base oil plant has been established. Closure of [the base oil plant] will require negotiations with our customers, as we do have some supply obligations, spokesman Andrew Turpin said yesterday. The status of these negotiations is confident...

Monsanto made a $7 million equity investment in Biosynthetic Technologies, which will use Monsantos high-oleic soybean oil to produce base oil. The funding, in addition to investments from BP Ventures and others, will enable Biosynthetic Technologies to finalize construction of a pilot plant. It will also support continued product development and the commercial launch of Biosynthetic Technologies products. Irvine, Calif.-based Biosynthetic Technologies is working with Albemarle and Jacobs Eng...

In response to industry complaints, a senior Russian official agreed that base oils and lubricants should be exempt from the new export tax slated for 2015, and said he would look at possible relief in the face of countrys slow-growing lubricants market. Lukoil, the biggest Russian lubricants marketer, was the countrys first oil major to voice industry concerns over export duties in a high-level note to the government that Lube Report obtained last week. Lubricants are special petrochemicals...

Calumet, Valvoline, Fuchs, S-Oil and Quaker Chemical each recently issued financial reports for the third quarter of 2012. Calumet Specialty Products Calumet Specialty Products Partners posted $42.4 million net income for the quarter ending Sept. 30, up 116.3 percent from $19.6 million for the same quarter in 2011. Sales for Indianapolis-based Calumet reached nearly $1.2 billion for the third quarter, up 51.7 percent from $777.8 million in the year earlier period. Our third quarter results we...

Hurricane Sandy brought the U.S. market to a standstill, with very little business accomplished over the past week. Europe has been seriously quiet, whereas Asia continues to see steady movements and not much idle tonnage. U.S. Gulf of Mexico The severe disruption caused by Hurricane Sandy as it made landfall in the United States has still to be properly assessed. Certainly a number of installations suffered damage and flooding, and ports and channels will need to be checked properly, which mig...