Given the lubricants industry’s limited resources, it’s time to focus attention and resources where they add value – and not on needless complexity such as redundant engine tests, Trevor Russell of Infineum urged in an address to a recent meeting in London. Complexity, said the additive company executive, can be both the friend and foe of the lubricants industry. It is the driver for many niche opportunities and is what enables product differentiation, he allowed. Yet some pro...

LLK International, Russia’s biggest lubricant marketer, signed a contract for lubricants supply with the Afghan Ministry of Defense, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported last week. As a platform for expansion in the region, the company plans to use its future blending plant in the south of Kazakhstan. LLK is Russian oil major Lukoil’s lubes arm. The meeting between LLK officials and Afghan government representatives took place on Feb. 26 in Kabul. Afghan officials present...

Engineered Custom Lubricants, which makes specialty lubricating greases for OEM applications, has moved into two buildings in Illinois and plans to expand further through acquisitions. The company currently has 24 employees. Formerly based in Detroit, ECL relocated to Aurora, Ill., in 2011. Paul Bedford, co-owner and vice president of sales and marketing, explained the initial plan was to move into an 18,600 square foot building in Aurora and then close the Detroit facility. By the time we got ...

Start-up manufacturer Voltrion has begun commercial production of its electrically polymerized esters for the lubricants and greases industry at its plant in Deinze, Belgium. The production process to obtain electrically treated oil components consists mainly of molecular rearrangement reactions under specific electrical impulses, according to Voltrions web site. The products generated by the reactions are electrically treated natural esters and compounds which are highly viscous and combine an...

Exol Lubricants announced March 1 it is investing more than 2 million (U.S. $2.6 million) to redevelop its head office and manufacturing site in the United Kingdom. Redevelopment of the 120,000 square foot site in Wednesbury, West Midlands, will start in July 2013, and is expected to take six months to complete, Exol said in a news release. The independent lubricants manufacturer noted it is completely overhauling the site to create a more efficient, economical and environmentally-friendly manu...

Lubrizols CPI Engineering Services is partnering with Oxea Chemicals to manufacture synthetic refrigeration lubricants in Nanjing, China. Oxea has also begun constructing a specialty derivatives plant in Nanjing that will make specialty esters used in compressor lubricants. The plant CPI and Oxea are partnering on will manufacture CPIs Emkarate brand synthetic refrigeration lubricants, with production anticipated in the first quarter of 2014. CPI said the lubricants are suitable for use with oz...

Petron Malaysia Refining and Marketing exited the lubricants sector as of March 1, citing the costs of introducing a new brand of lubricants in the Malaysian market. In an announcement Friday, Petron said it believed its marketing and sales efforts and company resources would be more beneficially utilized in fuels marketing and commercial businesses where there was certainty of higher return on investments. The company estimated that marketing efforts to introduce a new brand of lubricants in t...

Albemarle will lift prices on antioxidants used in lubricants, and Oxea increased prices for several solvents as well as a chemical intermediate used in making lubricants. Baton Rouge, La.-based Albemarle announced Feb. 28 it will increase the price of its Ethanox 4716 antioxidant on all shipments globally by 25 cents per kilogram effective immediately or as contracts allow. The antioxidants enhance the stability, improve the performance and extend the storage life of lubricants and fuels. Ox...

The new month has brought about a complete change to the market. Both Europe and Asia experienced a dramatic slowdown in new trade, whereas the U.S. saw just a littlemore activity. U.S. Gulf of Mexico The supply of prompt tonnage in the U.S. Gulf is even tighter this week than last. At least six outsider vessels have been fixed down to the east coast of South America for example, wiping out much of the tonnage oversupply in the Gulf in one fell swoop. Several cargoes of base oils are among this...