Some routes out of the U.S. Gulf have become tighter on available space, while others are reported to be quieter and seeing more open space. Europe has seen an increase in demand for end-month shipments while Asian markets remain unchanged. U.S. Gulf Activity has increased from the U.S. Gulf to the east coast of South America, with a number of base oil, styrene and caustic cargoes noted. Space is almost non-existent until the end of June, so any owner considering slotting some spare tonnage on...

Kenyas Energy Regulatory Commission recently invited the Kenyan public to submit written comments on proposed regulations that would require all businesses handling lubricants to be licensed. The law, introduced on May 10, would put the countrys burgeoning lubricants market in the spotlight, increasing regulation on substandard products in the industry. The law would impose licensing requirements on any business importing, blending, exporting, packaging, storing, or transporting lubricants, an...

Safety-Kleen will blend its motor oils with an increasing amount of its own rerefined base oil to help it weather the pricing volatility in the U.S. API Group II base oil market, parent company Clean Harbors officials said during a quarterly earnings conference call. Alan McKim, Clean Harbors founder, chairman and CEO, noted its oil rerefining and recycling segment faced a challenging pricing environment throughout 2013s first quarter. After a 38 cent drop in Group II base oil pricing in Janua...

Obsolete refinery technology prompted Forte Invest to shut down the API Group I base oil plant in Orsk, Russia, in early 2013, but base oil production may resume in the future. The plant had 3,700 barrels per day Group I capacity. Russian oil major Russneft sold the petrochemicals complex to Forte Invest in 2011. At the time of the deal, some Moscow analysts valued the Orsk refinery at around U.S. $500 million. Earlier this year the companys management decided to halt the base oil production ...

Heritage Crystal-Clean recently settled on $50,000 of Indiana state fines after routine inspections uncovered waste management violations. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management issued a civil penalty to the Elgin, Ill.-headquartered waste management company after detecting several instances of improper waste handling in 2011 and 2012. In Indiana legal documents, IDEM cited inaccurate labeling of hazardous material and spillage of waste, along with inaccurate manifests and out-of-da...

Martin Midstream Partners announced last week that it expects to close on its acquisition of NL Grease by the end of July 2013. The Kilgore, Texas-based petroleum company will take over all assets of NL Grease, LLC, a private-label commercial and industrial grease manufacturer based in Kansas City, Mo. In a May 23 press release, Martin Midstream noted that it expects a cash flow increase of approximately $2.5 million a year from the acquisition. In the release, Martins president and CEO Ruben ...

Puralube is investing 40 million to build a third rerefinery at its Zeitz Chemical and Industrial Park in Troeglitz, Germany, bringing its API Group II+ base oil capacity to about 150,000 metric tons in late 2014. Christian Hartmann, a managing director with Puralube, confirmed the investment cost to Lube Report. We plan to start production in fall 2014, Hartmann stated. He said the third rerefinery, like the two existing ones, will have 50,000 metric tons per year Group II+ base oil production...

MUMBAI, India – Executives from Fuchs and Total offered international perspectives on doing business in India at last months ICIS Indian Base Oils & Lubricants Conference, agreeing that India is a huge and important market that poses some special challenges. Yves Jassaud, CEO and executive director of Total Oil Indias Lubricants Division, told the ICIS conference here that in India, most important is the right attitude and mind set. Total is an international marketer, active in more ...

MOSCOW – The Russian government recently adopted a waste oil treatment regulation for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union, an industry meeting heard last week. Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, three ex-Soviet states which since 2010 have shared a common economic space, will enforce the regulation effective March 1, 2014, according to industry people who discussed rerefining at Globucs inaugural CIS Fuels and Lubricants conference here on May 21. The regulation is a mile...