Ergon, Inc. announced last week that it will invest $147 million to expand its Vicksburg, Miss.,refining operations as well as facilities in West Virginia and Ohio. The five-phase, $147 million expansion encompasses new administrative and laboratory facilities, a new technical development center and upgrades to refining units to increase product diversity and quality control. The expansion will enable Ergon to increase liquid production at its Vicksburg facility. Ergon will add additional stora...

U.S. exports of lubricant base oils from January to June of this year reached 14.2 million barrels-a volume equal to 48 percent of the country’s total base oil production in that same period, according to current data from the federal Energy Information Administration. Total U.S. base oil output for the period was 29.3 million barrels. First-half exports also were 8 percent higher than the 13.1 million barrels moved offshore in the first six months of 2011. But Jeff Mavelli, president of ...

Shell Lubricants named Istvan Kapitany as the new president of Houston-based Shell Commercial Fuels and Lubricants Americas, effective Jan. 1. He succeeds Lisa Davis, who has held the post since 2009. She will assume the global position of executive vice president for strategy and portfolio for Shell downstream businesses next year, and will be based in London. Davis said Kapitany is known for passionately driving customer and partner excellence, innovation and growth as a high priority, whic...

Avista Oil Group plans to partner with a used oil collector to build a second rerefinery in North America, in addition to one under construction in Georgia by its Universal Environmental Services subsidiary. We are talking to potential partners, Universal Environmental Services CEO Juan Fritschy told Lube Report. These are collectors who have enough volume or enough critical mass in used oil for us to grow them. Uetze, Germany-based Avista owns 86 percent of UES, which is constructing a base o...

PRAGUE – The European lubricants market will shrink in the near future for multiple reasons, but an industry analyst says its future viability is in meeting an increasing demand for premium lubes, not in volume growth. Historically, global lubricants demand was highest in 2007 when it reached 40 million tons. By the third quarter of 2008 it went into a deep recession plunging to 35 million tons in 2009, before recovering to 38 million tons by 2011. It is not where it was in 2007, but for...

BMW AG stopped delivering, and will recall, certain 2013 model year M5 and M6 cars equipped with turbocharged V-8 engines because of a defective engine oil pump that could damage engines. A delivery stop has been issued by BMW AG to correct a potential problem with the engine oil pump on certain S63TU-equippped vehicles, BMW stated in a technical service bulletin issued Sept. 21 to BMW dealer principals, and sales, service and parts managers. Affected vehicles are the 2013 Model Year M5, M6 Cou...

U.S. cargo volumes dropped away, exposing the next round of prompt open tonnage in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Europe had another steady week, while Asian markets continue to excite on some routes. U.S. Gulf of Mexico Volatile commodity pricing has been blamed for some of the downfall of the U.S. market this past week, with traders backing off from deals for fear that crude oil could go lower. At the same time, however, we have seen assorted reports suggesting that tight commodity supply in the Un...

Mergers, acquisitions and the explosive growth of API Group III are highlights of the 2012 Global Nonconventional Base Stock Guide, now available from LubesnGreases. Click here to order a copy. The 2012 Guide, mailed with the September issue of LubesnGreases magazine to print-edition subscribers, lists 180 of the worlds key nonconventional base stock plants, with owners, locations and (where relevant) capacities. The high-value products listed include silicones, polyisobutene, esters, polyalkyl...