Shell signed a memorandum of understanding to supply lubricants to Geely Motors, the Russian marketer of Chinese cars, the oil major said last week. The five-year supply agreement will be signed by Jan. 1, 2014. Geely expressed interest in a permanent supply of Shells lubricants, which will be delivered at the companys dealership network across the country, Shell Russia said in its Sept. 6 press release. Under the protocol, Shells flagship brand Helix will be recommended for use in all models...

Chemturas Petroleum Additives business last week announced upcoming price increases for its natural fatty acid based lubricants and several antioxidant products used in lubricants. The company said it will raise prices up to 20 percent, depending on the product, for its natural fatty acid based lubricants, effective Oct. 1. A global supply and demand imbalance has resulted in an escalation of raw material costs required to manufacture lubricants, Philadelphia-based Chemtura stated in a news re...

The Automotive Oil Change Association recently elected Jim Grant Jr. president, succeeding Patricia Wirth. Grant, who had served as AOCA vice president, owns East Ridge Fast Lube, a four-store chain in Chattanooga, Tenn. He was named the 2012 Operator of the Year by National Oil & Lube News magazine. Wirth was elected to AOCAs board of directors in 2009 and became president in 2010, serving until late August. Although she closed her independent quick lube, Potomac Falls Express Lube and Ca...

TURIN, Italy – Applying tribology on a serious scale can result not just in resource and energy savings, it can increase employment, the 5th World Tribology Congress heard. H. Peter Jost, U.K.-based president of the International Tribology Council, welcomed delegates to this weeks Congress with the assertion that tribology, the key science in the war against friction and wear, has the potential to boost employment in the United Kingdom alone by 300,000 or more. New materials and new tech...

South Korean refiner Hyundai Oilbank plans to produce 180,000 barrels of Xteer brand engine oil by 2014 to sell at home and abroad, according to a Sept. 4 news release cited by The Korea Times. Hyundai Oilbank also plans to market engine oil for heavy equipment and industrial machines within this year, the newspaper reported last week. Shell Petroleum Co. Ltd. and Hyundai Oilbank in January 2013 confirmed plans for a new joint venture 650,000 metric tons per year API Group II base oil plant in ...

Base oil production at U.S. refineries reached 27.8 million barrels in the first six months of this year, slumping 5 percent from the 29.3 million barrels manufactured in first-half 2012. This marked the second straight year of straitened output from the country’s domestic refiners, whose yields fell disappointingly short of the bright tallies chalked up for January-to-June 2011 (when they cranked out 31.1 million barrels) and 2010 (also 29.3 million barrels). This year’s January-t...

Adrian Brown is away this week.