Volume 13 Issue 47

SSY Base Oil Shipping Report

The market from the United States to Asia has come alive for December, but other U.S. trade lanes are static. European markets are fractionally busier and Asian domestic markets are stronger, even if export markets are not. U.S. Gulf Not much happened in the U.S. in the day or so leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, but there has been a lot more activity on the U.S. Gulf to Asia route since the holiday. Some had predicted the market would soften to $90 per metric ton or lower for 5,000 ton q...

NexLube Project on Hold

NexLube suspended construction of its base oil rerefinery in Florida because costs exceeded its budget.Our cost estimated now by our consulting engineers is higher than our expected budget, NexLube President Monte Bell told Lube Report yesterday. So we have suspended construction for what we estimate to be 90 to 120 days as we seek to raise additional capital.Bell said NexLube estimates the project is now 60 percent completed. We have about 70 percent of our total cost under fixed price contract...

Fire Ravages Ohio Rerefinery

An explosion and fire destroyed the processing unit of Hydrodecs transformer oil rerefinery in Canton, Ohio, on Sunday afternoon, causing no injuries but resulting in an estimated $12.5 million in damages and an indefinite shutdown.The incident was under control within an hour and a half of workers raising the alarm, according to the United Kingdom-based rerefiner. All staff members were quickly accounted for and emergency shutdown procedures operated successfully, the publicly held company said...

Bright Stock Faces Dark Future

Five to six million tons per year of API Group I base oils will be shut down or upgraded, resulting in a significant bright stock deficit by 2022, with no price-competitive substitutes in sight, Kline & Co. advises. Geeta Agashe, Klines senior vice president for energy, gave a fresh analysis of Group I supply and demand at the ICIS Middle Eastern Base Oils & Lubricants Conference in Dubai in October. The lubricant industry, she said, faces an increasing shortage of heavy neutrals and br...

Australia Gets More Lubes

Gulf Western Oil began operating its recently completed 60 million liter per year blending plant located on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia. The companys 5,500 square meter (59,200 square feet) building was built on a 9,000 square meter site in the Sydney, New South Wales suburb of St. Marys. The new site in a western Sydney business park contains 32 new stainless steel storage tanks and four new blending tanks, almost tripling Gulf Westerns previous Penrith plants production capacity. The s...

REACH Rough on Small Business

BRUSSELS – REACH is accomplishing most of its objectives thus far, according to the European Commission, but changes must be made to reduce the programs negative impacts on vulnerable small and medium-size businesses. Following an in-depth review of REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals), the commission has determined that the program functions well, Michal Kubicki told the 2013 UEIL Congress in October. However, the commission is recommending a push to increase a...

Briefly Noted

Associated Petroleum Productsof Washington acquired Portland, Ore.-basedPioneer Oil, which distributes lubricants, including Chevron and Motorcraft brands.Fitz Chemnow representsCristal‘s titanium dioxide products in the Central U.S. Mining service companyMarconow distributesBel-Rays mining and marine lubricant product lines in Colombia.