A perceptible tightening of space in Asia, Europe and the U.S. Gulf has transpired without fanfare – the market has even been perceived as quiet to those not looking for space in earnest. Americas An arbitrage opened up to ship styrene to Europe on prompt dates, but few cargoes are believed to have fixed since prompt space is scarce. There are a lot of other possibilities to be shipped too, including cargoes of ethanol, glycols, cumene, acrylonitrile, amines, vinyl acetate monomer, methano...

The global market for lubricant viscosity improvers is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 2 percent between 2015 and 2019, a market research firm projected, bogged down by rising demand for hybrid electric vehicles. United Kingdom-based Technavio Research projected the global lubricant viscosity improvers market would reach about 1.2 million metric tons by 2019. The company noted that the Asia-Pacific region dominates the global market for viscosity improvers, owing to the spreading a...

LAGOS, Nigeria – A call for federal legislation on waste oil disposal and collection gained traction at the Nigerian Lubricant Summit held from Nov. 24 through Nov. 26. Lubcon International Ltd. Chairman Jani Ibrahim proposed a bill on waste oil disposal and collection during his speech to delegates. We are working on it and bringing people of like mind together so that we can sponsor this bill, because sustainability of the environment is very crucial to this industry, Ibrahim told Lube R...

Russo-Belarusian additive maker LLK-Naftan expanded its reach to India where it started to supply lubricant additives, the company told Lube Report. The first batch of 100 metric tons was shipped to the Indian lube makers recently, and the company plans to triple this volume by the end of this year. Our enterprise has good experience in doing business in the Southeast Asia region, Mikhail Babushkin, LLK-Naftan general director, told Lube Report last week. For example, we are shipping additives i...

Icahn Enterprises L.P. threw a monkey wrench into Bridgestone Retail Operations acquisition of Pep Boys by making a higher cash offer of $15.50 per share. Bridgestone Retail Operations announced in October plans to acquire Pep Boys for $15 per share, or $835 million, in a deal that would combine two large U.S. chains of automotive after-market service providers. That offer was expected to close at the beginning of 2016. The merger agreement contains termination rights that stipulate that under c...

Chief Executive Ian Smale stepped down Dec. 4, and Chief Financial Officer Chris Ellis was appointed acting chief executive, the United Kingdom-based company announced. Hydrodec said the change was by mutual agreement with Smale, who joined the company in 2012, and credited him with leading its expanded footprint. Ellis appointment is for an initial term of up to 6 months, and he will hold the roles of both acting chief executive and CFO in the near term. The board believes no immediate replacem...