European markets may not be quite as firm as before, while Asian markets are steady and the U.S. continues to endure a shortage of cargoes and weak rates. U.S. Gulf It is always difficult to assess the U.S. market while the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers meeting takes place in San Antonio, simply because so many people attend the event and business comes to a halt. All the same, the impression is that the U.S. market has weakened further. U.S. Gulf to Far East, for example, fell...

Shell Lubricants notified U.S. customers on Monday that prices for Shell brand finished lubricants will generally increase by up to 4 percent effective May 5. This adjustment is due in part to increasing costs of raw materials used in the production and delivery of our products, Shell stated in its letter to customers. In some instances, the company noted in its letter, the effective date maybe be different and/or the amount of the price change may fall outside the 4 percent range.

LONDON – Kline & Co. warns the base oil industry to prepare for substantial capacity rationalization and weak margins over the current decade, as demand growth slows and new capacity depresses the market. At the ICIS World Base Oils & Lubricants Conference here in late February, Milind Phadke, energy practice director for consultancy Kline & Co., shared preliminary 2013 lubricant demand data and painted a dark picture for base oils through 2022. Kline believes that the base sto...

ExxonMobil Chemical opened its new metallocene polyalphaolefin synthetic lubricant base stock plant at its Baytown, Texas complex, boosting the companys global PAO capacity by 50,000 metric tons per year. We’re not disclosing the investment for the plant, and it is integrated into the [Baytown] complex and its workforce, ExxonMobil Chemical spokeswoman Margaret Ross told Lube Report. The Baytown synthetic base stocks plant project at its peak employed more than 700 construction-related wor...

A fire last week at Fiske Brothers Toledo, Ohio, lubricants plant resulted in no injuries but caused approximately $8,000 in damages, according to the local fire department. Plant operators and fire crews quickly contained the blaze. My understanding is that workers emptied a brick heating vessel – which may have had a leak – and some of the residue caught on fire, resulting in a quick flash fire that the plant operators were mostly able to contain, Toledo Fire and Rescue Departments...

ISTANBUL – While Turkeys lubricant market has sustained growth, it is still marred by illicit base oil trade despite government efforts to crack down, a Turkish oil industry association official told an industry event here. Last year, the country’s total lubricant consumption reached 416,000 tons, up 2 percent from 2012. It was driven by the country’s economic recovery from the 2008 financial crisis and annual growth in gross domestic product since 2010, Niyazi Ilter, secretary...