Despite some fresh demand, especially on deep-sea routes, European activity is perhaps eclipsed by the U.S.s. Asia, however, still lags – a surge in demand before the Lunar New Year is increasingly unlikely. U.S. Gulf Styrene has again been one of the mainstays behind U.S. exports this week. At least 22,000 tons of styrene has been fixed from the U.S. Gulf to the Far East with further cargoes being worked. Rates initially started off in the mid $50s per metric ton, but numbers are expected...

Trucking fleet operators are conservative about switching to lighter engine oils, but one of the countrys largest – Ryder Systems Inc. – has embraced the concept by converting its bulk oil program from 15W-40 to 10W-30. The Miami-based commercial fleet management and supply chain solutions company uses the bulk motor oil to service all its lease, rental and maintenance customer vehicles as part of its preventive maintenance program. Ryder said that using the lighter oil will enable c...

Vivo Energy, owner of Shells former downstream operations in Ghana, is striving to regain its license to operate there after losing it for failure to meet a local ownership requirement. Amsterdam-based Vivo, which is still operating in Ghana, said it still intends to comply with a stipulation by Ghanas National Petroleum Authority that it sell 8 percent of the stock in its Ghanaian business to raise the percent owned by local investors to 25 percent. But Kwaku Kwateng, a parliament member repres...

Spectro Scientific announced yesterday that it has acquired fellow industrial fluids analysis and condition monitoring company, On-Site Analysis. Spectro, based in Chelmsford, Mass., absorbed the Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.-headquarted OSA late last year. Terms were not disclosed. Similarities in the two companies portfolios – which consist largely of fluids analysis equipment and software – make them highly compatible, Spectro spokesperson Sandra Schiller told Lube Report. OSA will com...

Ashlands Valvoline segment reported operating income of $83 million during the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2014, up 10.7 percent from the same period a year earlier. Sales in the period, which is the first quarter of Ashlands fiscal year, amounted to $492 million, up 1 percent from $486 million in the corresponding quarter of 2013. At Valvoline, continued growth in premium brand sales, Valvoline Instant Oil Change store expansion and lower raw material costs helped drive record profits for the first ...

Russian lube marketer Gazprom Neft Lubricants announced the opening of its first G-Energy Service-branded auto service center in Russia, part of its broader regional expansion into the automotive aftermarket. The station is located in the city of Balakovo, Saratov oblast, and is equipped with two oil change bays. It offers our key products such as G-Energy-branded synthetic and semi-synthetic oils, as well as technical fluids, Gazprom Neft Lubricants said in a Jan. 19 press release. The products...