The new month brought some fresh and much needed opportunities in both Europe and the United States, while Asia remains reasonably busy. U.S. Gulf Activity has continued on the U.S. Gulf to Far East trade lane, but overhang of tonnage on the route is so extensive that freights have fallen even lower than last week, in spite of a quadrupling of the amount of cargo needing to be shipped. And there is still plenty of open space available in June. A number of 10,000-metric ton slugs have been booked...

Two of the four Michigan individuals arrested in February on charges of selling mislabeled motor oil were sentenced to one year of probation and a $2,000 fine. Of the two others, ones June 4 sentencing was delayed for a year and one was only given one year of probation. Operators of Dearborn, Mich.-based City Petroleum – brothers Moussa Kaddough and Joe Kaddough – both pleaded guilty to intentionally selling an improperly labeled commodity. In the Wayne County Third Circuit Court, ea...

Daubert Chemical completed a multi-million dollar, three-year expansion of its calcium sulfonate plant in Chicago that more than doubles its capacity. The specific cost and capacity are confidential, Matt McGinnis, Dauberts director of commercial development, told Lube Report. He said the company repurposed an unutilized area of the production facility and installed new equipment to achieve the capacity increase. The company supplies calcium sulfonate to manufacturers of greases, rust preventati...

Calumet Specialty Products Partners invested as a joint venture partner in construction of a Lake Charles, La., commercial gas-to-liquids plant that is expected to produce 1,100 barrels per day of refined products, including waxes, drilling fluids, distillate and naphtha, from natural gas. In a news release, Calumet said it intends to invest $25 million in exchange for an equity interest of about 22 percent in the joint venture. The $135 million brownfield plant will be owned and operated by Jun...

Shell Egypt will increase capacity of its lubricants blending plant near Cairo by more than 100 million liters per year by 2017, an official told Lube Report. The fully-owned Shell plant will increase capacity by double digits [percent] in an incremental three year period, Shell Egypt Lubricants sales manager Saher Hashem said. Shell did not disclose the plants current capacity or the costs of the expansion project but noted that the investments will also be incremental. The expansion will resul...

ISTANBUL – Turkey stands at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. But a question remains whether the country can exploit its geographic advantage and become an important hub for the base oils and lubricants industry. Turkey is already becoming a hub for lubricant manufacturing, imports and exports, and Turkish exports are increasing every year, Esra Pelitozu, director of Selco Finance and Industrial Group, told the ICIS Turkish Base Oils and Lubricants Conference in Istanbul last month. Furth...