Volume 15 Issue 40
Motor Oil Prices Rise in Russia
October 7, 2015Prices for foreign branded engine oils in Russia rose an average of 31 percent during the year ended in August, while domestic brands climbed just 7.5 percent, a market study found. Those conclusions were included in a study published Sept. 4 by Autostat, a market research firm based in the automobile manufacturing hub of Togliatti, Russia. The study was based on monitoring of 100 foreign brands and approximately 25 domestic brands. Autostat found that motorists from St. Petersburg, the countrys...
Petronas Builds R&D Center in Italy
October 7, 2015Malaysias Petronas Lubricants International is building what it claims will be the largest lubricant research and development center in Europe – an 80,000 square meter facility in Turin, Italy. Part of the heritage FL Selenia business that Petronas acquired seven years ago, the Turin center is scheduled to open in 2017. Officials describe it as the centerpiece of a strategy to boost PLIs global network of R&D facilities. In a recent interview with LubesnGreases magazine, PLI CEO Amir H...
Prospect Brightens for Base Oil in Nigeria
October 7, 2015Nigeria could soon welcome the return of local base oil production, thanks to rehabilitation work at a refinery in Kaduna and efforts to reopen a port to crude oil imports. Ohi Alegbe, spokesman for Nigeria National Petroleum Corp., parent of Kaduna Refinery Petrochemical Co., said the answer to whether the Kaduna base oil plant will resume production is partly yes, contingent upon the ability to deliver crude to Kaduna. The major challenge with the [base oil] plant is that for some years now th...
Chevron, Belgian Toll Blender Renew Ties
October 7, 2015Chevron Belgium NV and toll blender VLS-Group renewed their contract, including an increase of volumes to be handled via VLS-Groups toll manufacturing and logistics facilities in the Port of Ghent in Belgium. The companies extended their cooperation for integrated production logistics arrangements, including tank storage, blending and packaging activities. Chevrons Els Devriendt, general manager for Europe and marine supply chain, credited VLS-Group with providing flexible and cost-effective sup...
Briefly Noted
October 7, 2015PBF Energys $537.5 million acquisition of ExxonMobils Torrance, Calif., refinery and related assets, expected to close in 2016s second quarter, includes a lubricants distribution center in Vernon. U.K.-based specialty chemicals supplier Elementis appointed Paul Waterman – now CEO of BP Lubricants – as CEO-designate to succeed CEO David Dutro when he retires in early 2016. MFA Oil of Columbia, Mo., acquired Garnett, Kan.-based Lybarger Oil, including its bulk and packaged lubricants business. Cleveland-based Applied Industrial Technologies acquired S.G. Morris, which provides lubrication and grease systems.