Volume 15 Issue 13
BMW Settling Oil Change Suit
April 1, 2015BMW has attempted to settle a Federal Trade Commission charge that it illegally made warranties conditional on consumers having all oil changes performed at authorized service centers. BMW agreed to a pending settlement, saying it will discontinue the practice. On March 19, the FTC issued an administrative complaint against BMW of North America LLC. The FTC alleged that BMWs Mini Division violated the tie-in provision of the Magnus-Moss Warranty Act of 1975 by stating in Mini vehicles owner manu...
Ineos Plans More PAO Output
April 1, 2015Ineos Oligomers will further debottleneck its polyalphaolefin plant in LaPorte, Texas, by the end of 2015 and will install a production train of up to 80,000 metric tons per year at an unspecified location by 2018, the company announced last week. These projects are in addition to other investments announced in 2013, including construction of a linear alpha olefin plant on the U.S. Gulf Coast, the opening of which has been delayed until the third quarter of 2017. The League City, Texas-based com...
Calif. District Gets Nod for VOC Rules
April 1, 2015The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is approving revisions to Ventura County Air Pollution Control Districts portion of Californias implementation plan for volatile organic compound emissions, including from metalworking fluids and direct-contact lubricants. The EPA posted its direct final rule on the revisions in the Federal Register on March 27. VOCs help produce ground-level ozone and smog. Section 110(a) of the Clean Air Act requires states to submit regulations that control VOC emissio...
Axel Has New Grease Plant
April 1, 2015Axel France SAS last week said its new industrial and food-grade grease plant in Niort, France will have capacity of 8,000 metric tons per year after a pressurized cooker is delivered to the facility this spring. This will enable Axel France to grow further domestically and extend the export opportunities, the company stated in a March 23 news release about a March 11 grand opening. Last December, Axel said the dedicated food-grade production facility at the plant had made its first batch of ind...
Calumet Hires Interim CEO
April 1, 2015Calumet Specialty Products Partners L.P. hired Bill Hatch, a former chief operating executive for Citgo Petroleum Corp., as interim CEO. The company promoted Calumet Vice Chairman and CEO F. William Grube – who co-founded the company in 1990 with Fred Fehsenfeld Jr. – to the newly formed position of executive vice chairman. Both officers will assume their new roles effective April 1. Indianapolis-based Calumets board retained executive search consulting firm Spencer Stuart to initiate a formal CEO search from a pool of both internal and external candidates.
Briefly Noted
April 1, 2015Relevo will market Spain-based Cepsas lubricants in Colombia, with a target sales volume of 1,800 tons per year within five years. Enzymicals, of Greifswald, Germany, received 1.2 million in grants toward its participation in Cosmos, a consortium working to reduce Europes dependence on imports of fatty acids and plant oils used in production of lubricants, detergents, surfactants and other materials. The project addresses cultivation of oil crops suited for Europes environment along with extraction and processing techniques.