The U.S. and European markets have not been quite as frenzied as they were last week, although there are still fairly strong freight levels on certain routes. Asia has continued experiencing greater demand and some strengthening freight rates. Americas There have been plenty of eastbound chemical cargo requirements again, but with minimal amounts of open space, the actual number of fixtures has been slim. Base oils have not really been in evidence on this route, although the large cargo requirem...

MOSCOW – Russian production of base oils and lubricants is poised to stagnate to around 2.1 million tons in the next few years as the economies of Russia and Europe experience hard times, an industry event heard here recently. Another major factor for this stagnation is the sluggish demand prompted by the development of more sophisticated equipment and vehicles that use less engine oil, according to Tamara Kandelaki, head of the Moscow-based consultancy InfoTek. This is good for us as cust...

Calumet Specialty Products Partners L.P. opened Calumet Specialty Oils de Mexico, which will provide the companys global customers with access to bulk products – including base oil – through two terminals and packaged products from a warehouse in Mexico. The terminals will be in the states of Jalisco, Nuevo Leon, and Distrito Federal. The warehouse will be in Tlalnepantla (Mexico City). The company said it will offer a wide range of products to customers in Mexico and Latin America t...

Sasol commissioned the first phase of its Fischer-Tropsch wax expansion project at its Sasolburg Operations in South Africa. It marks another step toward expanding our Southern African operations as part of our dual regional strategy, while demonstrating our commitment to South Africa through industrial investment, Bernard Klingenberg, executive vice president, Southern Africa Operations, Sasol Ltd., said in a news release. The company has commenced phase II of the wax expansion project with maj...

Emirates National Oil Co. has increased its lubricants and grease blending capacity to 300,000 metric tons per year with the opening of a second facility in Jebel Ali, Dubai, last week. Enoc, the United Arab Emirates state-owned oil company based in Dubai, announced that it commissioned its new 5,000-square meter facility in the Jebel Ali Free Zone on June 1. With maximum production capacity of 50,000 t/y on a three-shift basis, the plant adds supplemental production and sales support to Enocs e...

Lubricating Specialties Co. has opened a lubricants blending facility in Jamaica to support customers in the Caribbean and Latin America. One customer is Top 1 Oil Products Co., which recently announced it would enter the Jamaican and Caribbean markets, with LSC Jamaica Ltd. producing products for Top 1 under license. LSCs blending plant in Jamaica can produce a full line of passenger car motor oil, heavy-duty diesel engine oil, gear oil, hydraulic oil, gear oil, automatic transmission fluid, sm...

Koda Distribution Group recently acquired the assets of metalworking and industrial fluids distributor Colonial Specialty Chemicals and plans to merge it with Koda subsidiary Monson Cos. Terms were not disclosed. There are significant benefits for both companies – the primary one for Colonial is in the metal manufacturing market, Craig Mott, executive vice president of Colonial Specialty Chemicals, told Lube Report. Mott said the combined companies have tremendous synergy, and that the mer...