The U.S. market has seen a slight upturn in demand, whereas Europe is merely treading water. Asia, inundated with open tonnage during a period of slack demand, is not making progress. U.S. Gulf Demand into Asia has improved, causing freight levels to gently rise. Styrene is behind much of it. China had muttered that it would impose an anti-dumping duty on Korean styrene, which stimulated interest in U.S. material instead. Several cargoes of paraxylene have been booked to China, with more pending...

After becoming the sole owner of Motiva, Saudi Aramco announced plans to invest $18 billion in its U.S. downstream business. The company has offered little detail, but lube industry analysts say it could lead to changes at Motivas base oil plant in Port Arthur, Texas. Saudi Aramco is making base oils a strategic focus, and Motiva is a big part of that. You would expect them to look at any opportunities, IHS Inc. Vice President Blake Eskew said in an interview. Aramco, the national oil company of...

MOSCOW – Russian motor oil export volumes grew 17 percent in 2016, while imports barely gained ground, according to a consultancy. Last year Russian exported 337,000 tons of motor oil, rebounding from 287,000 tons in 2015, and exceeding the 315,000 tons exported in 2014, Moscow-based Autostat told GBCs CIS Base Oils and Lubricants conference here May 25. These gains are on the wave of the government sponsored import substitution program that began in 2014, said Victor Pushkarev, head of pr...

New Mexicos attorney general filed a lawsuit against Dolgencorp LLC, owner of Dollar General, alleging the discount retail store chain engaged in unfair advertising and trade practices in selling its store brand motor oil. The suit also claims the oil diminished the states air quality. Dollar General sell its DG Auto brand motor oil, in SAE 10W-30 and SAE 10W-40, both of which are manufactured to meet API Service Category SF, making them unsuitable for vehicles built after 1988. The company also...

Moscow police raided a business last week to shut down production and online sale of allegedly counterfeit motor oils. The economic security and anticorruption unit of the Moscow Ministry of Internal Affairs discovered about 13,000 liters of counterfeit motor oils, packed and ready for shipping. Police estimated the worth of the products at 1.2 million rubles ($20,400). During the operation, we found canisters and barrels emblazoned with the brand names of several well-known motor oil producers,...