Trade in all three main regions – the United States, Asia and Europe – has been rather slow over the past week, and traders are now setting their sights on October business instead. Americas The amount of new material quoted on the market for routes from the U.S. Gulf to Europe has been steadily falling, and although it has not had a noticeable impact on freight rates so far, it will perhaps only be a matter of time. Styrene is still being attempted, with one ship picking up a combin...

Ashland announced yesterday that it will spin off Valvoline, saying the lubricants business is positioned for growth in quick lube and international markets. The plan also calls for Valvoline to become an independent publicly owned company and creation of a separate, new Ashland specialty chemicals company that would also be independent and publicly traded. Subject to final approval by Ashlands board and regulators, the change is expected to take at least a year to complete. Valvoline produces a...

U.S. refiners continue to participate vigorously in the global base oils trade: From January to June, they sent 13.5 million barrels of the stuff out into the world – a volume equal to 42 percent of the countrys entire base oil output during that period. In volume terms, thats about 10 percent more than the 12.2 million barrels shipped abroad in the prior six months (July to December 2014) or the 12.3 million barrels sent in the first half of last year, according to data released Aug. 31 b...

VIENNA – Steeply lower crude oil costs are the biggest reason that margins for fuels, base stocks and other refined products have improved, but other factors have also contributed, including strong demand and supply base consolidations, an analyst told a lubricant conference here last week. That does not mean the end of pressure on API Group I plants, although their profitability has improved a bit, IHSs John Leavens said at the ACI European Base Oils and Lubricants conference. For most pr...

Forchem plans to increase throughput at its Rauma, Finland, tall oil distillation plant by 5 to 10 percent through the installation of new software. The project, which will be executed by engineering firm Neste Jacobs, is due to be completed by the summer of 2016. The project stems from a performance analysis carried out by Neste Jacobs in spring of this year, the companies said Monday. It showed high potential for production optimization using the firms proprietary Napcon controller software pa...