The U.S. has been noticeably busier and small increases in freight are starting to appear. Europe has been a little more active on coastal markets, but the overall picture is dull. Asian markets are reasonably active but freights remain depressed. U.S. Gulf Momentum on the U.S. Gulf-to-Far East route continues to grow, and with so many cargoes having been booked, October space is now starting to look scarce. Rates are also starting to rise, with 5,000 ton parcels from Houston to Mainport Far Eas...

The American Petroleum Institute confirmed last week that it expects to begin licensing PC-11 heavy-duty motor oils on March 1, 2017. Thats 14 months later than originally hoped, but not as far off-track as some participants had feared. In June, pessimists were predicting the diesel oil category upgrade might not see daylight until November 2017. On the plus side, two critical engine tests for the proposed category got the go-ahead last week to begin matrix testing. They are the Mack T-13 test f...

ALICANTE, Spain – Repsol and SK Lubricants are ready to launch commercial production at their new API Group III base oil plant in Cartagena, Spain, both companies said at an ACI conference here last week. The plant operator is Iberian Lubricants Base Oil Co. (Ilboc), a 70-30 joint venture between South Koreas SK Lubricants (SKL) and Spanish oil major Repsol Petroleum. The plants 630,000 metric tons per year Group II/III base oil production capacity makes it the largest such facility in Eur...

North Americas finished lubricants consumption will remain little changed, with 0.5 percent compounded annual growth from 2013, to just shy of 3.1 billion gallons in 2018, consultancy Kline & Co. projected. In 2013, the overall finished lubricants market in North America (the United States, Canada and Mexico) stood at 2.9 billion gallons, Kline estimated, ranking second after the Asia-Pacific region. Of the three segments of the market, we expect the consumer automotive lubricants market wi...

JX Nippon Oil & Energy USA Inc. will increase its lubricants blending plant capacity in Alabama from 34 million liters per year to 56 million liters per year by the end of 2015, the company recently announced. Car sales and production have been increasing, and we expect lubricant demand for automatic transmission fluid and continuously variable transmission fluid and energy saving high efficiency engine oils from Japanese and Korean automobile manufacturers to grow, JX Nippon said in a stat...