The U.S. Gulf is a bit busier compared to recent weeks. European demand is at about the same pace, while the Asia market is rather subdued. U.S. Gulf There has been a gentle increase in the amount of business being discussed out of the U.S. Gulf over the past week. It goes hand-in-hand with a depletion of the amount of prompt space open in the area. This could change as we enter July, as we already see four or five ships coming into the U.S. Gulf in the first half of July that have yet to figur...

ExxonMobil opened a new Asia Pacific oil analysis laboratory at the companys Shanghai Technology Center in China. Signum, ExxonMobils oil analysis program, is designed specifically to help evaluate the condition of in-service lubricants, the company said in a June 19 news release. The Signum lab in Shanghai is the companys first in the Asia Pacific region. With the Mobil branded lubricant business growing steadily in China and the Asia Pacific region, more and more customers are requesting sup...

Russian lubricant marketer Lukoil launched its key European brand Genesis in Russia last week, reaffirming its grip on the countrys automotive lubes market. The fully synthetic Lukoil Genesis will first appear at a few authorized franchised car service stations, with the possibility of soon expanding its presence into many retail sales points across Russia. The brand will also be supplied to Rolf, a French Renault car dealership in Saint Petersburg, as well as to Uz-Daewoo, official dealer of K...

New national guidelines going into effect July 1 will require professional oil change facilities to identify and label the viscosity, brand and service category-and include a warning if the category is obsolete-for all oil installed from bulk motor oil containers and to include that information on each oil change transaction receipt. The new provisions are included in Handbook 130, the guidebook for motor oil quality standards developed by the National Conference on Weights and Measures and pu...

TUCSON, Ariz. – The world’s lubricant companies produced an impressive 2.47 billion pounds of lubricating grease in 2012, according to new data released last week by the National Lubricating Grease Institute. In 2011, the combined total reported worldwide was a slightly higher 2.56 billion pounds, according to the NLGI 2012 Grease Production Survey Report. Almost 40 percent of the 2012 volume was manufactured in China, which is more than all of the grease produced in North America a...

ExxonMobil yesterday said it plans to expand API Group II base stock production capacity at its Singapore refinery by early 2015. The company manufactures EHC 50 and EHC 110 base stocks at its Singapore site, which are designed specifically for blending mainstream lubricants in the Asia Pacific Market. The plant currently has 25,000 b/d of Group II capacity, according to LubesnGreases 2013 Guide to Global Base Oil Refining. The Singapore refinerys sister site on Jurong Island, referred to as Pu...