The U.S. market has probably been the most active of all the three main regions worldwide. Europe is slow by comparison, while Asia looks dormant. U.S. Gulf Exports are flourishing out of the U.S. Gulf in almost every direction. Transatlantic eastbound has seen freight rates increase into the low $50s/ton for 5,000 ton parcels from Houston to Rotterdam, and high $50s/t for the same products out of Lake Charles and other unscheduled ports. Styrene is the hot product, and a lack of prompt space...

Heartland Automotive Services, the largest U.S. Jiffy Lube franchisee, appointed Jim Marcum as interim CEO and formed a new Southeast division following the addition of 33 locations in the region. Marcum, who succeeded former Heartland president and CEO Brett Ponton, most recently served as president and CEO of Central Parking Corp. He has also served as CEO of retail electronics companies Circuit City and Ultimate Electronics. Irving, Texas-based Heartland on Aug. 28 announced the second larg...

The Russian Ministry of Energy proposed a bill for collection and treatment of waste lubricants, according to its Aug. 13 post in the state portal for information disclosure. The draft decree forwards a technical regulation recently adopted by the customs union of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan that stipulates rules for producers and consumers of lubricants, oil and specialty fluids. Effective March 1, 2014, it would be the first such regulation since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russi...

The European Commission has approved Nynas proposal to acquire the base oil production units at Shells Harburg refinery in Hamburg, Germany, an acquisition which will increase the Swedish companys naphthenic output by 40 percent. The approval is the outcome of an in-depth investigation launched over concerns that the takeover would leave Nynas as the only producer of naphthenic base oils, process oils and transformer oils in the European Economic Area. Harburg has capacity to make 3,000 barrels...

ExxonMobil and Chevron informed U.S. customers of finished lubricant price hikes that take effect in early October, following an earlier markup by Shell Lubricants. Several smaller and independent suppliers have also instituted finished lube price increases taking effect in mid to late September. ExxonMobil informed customers that prices for ExxonMobil branded and unbranded lubricants and greases will increase by up to 4 percent effective Oct. 3. Chevron told customers prices for all of its l...