Both the U.S. and European markets have been really slow for the past two weeks with an excess of tonnage and declining freight rates very much in evidence. Asia is not looking so bad in comparison, although there are still some prompt gaps to fill. U.S. Gulf The past week has seen rather more demand appear on the U.S. Gulf-to-Asia route, which is gladly received by those ship owners whose vessels still have a lot of open space remaining this month. The extra demand is with products such as para...

Thanks to the startup this month of a polyalphaolefin plant in China, the world is getting a fresh source of high-viscosity PAO. By early July, officials with Naco Lubrication Co. Ltd. told Lube Report, their Shanghai facility will be making commercial volumes of high-viscosity PAO and other components used in making synthetic lubricants. This marks the third new high-vis PAO plant to come on stream within a year, and follows hot on the heels of ExxonMobil Chemical’s metallocene PAO plant ...

Missouri has banned the sale of several dozen brands of misrepresented motor oil, automatic transmission fluid and antifreeze products. The states Weights, Measures and Consumer Protection Division issued a consumer alert last week announcing that it has prohibited the sale of five antifreeze products, nine ATFs, and over two dozen motor oils. The agencys tests revealed that the motor oils in question were labeled with misleading information. Some had less product than claimed, some advertised t...

Prista Recycling expects to stream base oil at its rerefinery in Uzbekistan by October, the Bulgarian refiner told Lube Report last week. The base oil rerefinery will be the first in Central Asia. At the moment, we are finishing the installation work. It should be done by September, and we plan to stream first batches in October, Kalin Runtev, Prista Recycling project manager, told Lube Report on the sidelines of the GBCs CIS Base Oils, Lubricants and Fuels conference in Moscow last week. Constr...

Safety-Kleen agreed to pay $100,000 to settle charges of transporting waste oil from unregistered facilities during 2010-2012 and submitting inaccurate reports to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the states attorney general announced May 30. In a news release, the attorney generals office said that under the terms of the settlement agreement approved in Suffolk Superior Court, Safety-Kleen will pay a civil penalty of $100,000 to the Commonwealth. The company will pay $60...

Solazymes joint venture with Bunge Global Innovation LLC produced its first commercially saleable products, including algal oils and biodegradable drilling lubricant, on full-scale production lines at the joint ventures plant in Brazil. San Francisco-based Solazymes technology uses algae to transform plant-based sugars into oils. The Solazyme Bunge Renewable Oils plant, located next to a sugarcane mill in Sao Paulo state, began manufacturing both oil and Encapso brand drilling lubricant. The pro...