Volume 15 Issue 33

SSY Base Oil Shipping Report

The U.S. didnt see a reduction in amount of new business quoted, but European deep-sea markets are really slow, and Asias domestic markets are flat. Americas Styrene has been very active from the U.S. Gulf to Europe, with almost all the remaining August ships filling out on styrene, or a mixture of styrene, glycols and acrylonitrile. Further styrene has been quoted right into September, too. U.S. propylene prices are very low currently, giving U.S. chemical producers a huge competitive advantage...

ExMo to Unplug Group I Beaumont Plant

ExxonMobil plans to close the Group I base oil and wax plant at its Beaumont, Texas, refinery by the second quarter of 2016, the company confirmed to Lube Report, citing the global markets transition to higher performing base stocks. All impacted employees will be redeployed within the site, the company said in a statement. The Beaumont plant is the third-largest source of Group I base oil in North America, but analysts said closings like this are inevitable given the current surplus in the mark...

U.S. Drilling Fluids Demand to Grow

U.S. demand for drilling fluids is expected to increase 5.2 percent per year to $6.8 billion in 2019, driven by growth in the number and depth of wells drilled and by increasing market penetration for premium products, Freedonia Group found. High-performance water-based drilling fluids will continue to increase their share of the market in unconventional drilling where oil-based fluids have been traditionally chosen, Freedonia stated in a news release. By comparison, the value of U.S. drilling f...

Net Revenue Up for Cosan

Net revenue was up for lubricants manufacturer and distributor Cosan Lubrificantes in the second quarter, compared to 2014s second quarter. The Brazilian companys net revenue from the sale of lubricants and other goods and services, and the resale of base oils reached 424.1 million Brazilian reais (U.S. $120.8 million) for the three months ended June 30, up 5 percent from 403.9 million reais in the year-earlier period. The company attributed the improvement in net revenues to a better product mi...

Auto Aftermarket Surges in Turkey

Turkeys automotive aftermarket for light vehicles is expected to grow by a compound annual growth rate of 4.9 percent for the next six years, from $4.5 billion in 2014 to more than $6.3 billion in 2021, thanks to a vehicle parc that is expanding and aging, according to an analysis by Frost & Sullivan. The findings were in the international market research firms Strategic Analysis of the Turkish Automotive Aftermarket. New vehicle registration decreased by about 16 percent in the passenger ca...

Briefly Noted

BioAmber and Mitsui & Co. joint venture BioAmber Sarnia opened a plant in Sarnia, in Canadas Ontario province, that will make 30,000 tons per year of succinic acid from renewable glucose, for use in non-petroleum-based lubricants. Gazpromneft Lubricants agreed to train, support and recommend the use of its products to the Russian Passenger Auto Transportation Union.