Volume 17 Issue 28

SSY Base Oil Shipping Report

The United States market is still going strong. European markets are just about all unchanged from last week, while Asia sees both positive and negative developments this week. U.S. Gulf Traders have been unsuccessful in keeping rates below $50 per metric ton for 5,000-ton parcels shipped from the U.S. Gulf to Mainport Far East. They have not had to concede big changes, however, with almost all fixtures of this size weighing in at between $50 and $53 per metric ton. Rates to China are more akin ...

Brazil Market Still Shrinking

Brazils finished lubricant demand declined another 7 percent to 1.15 million metric tons in 2016, according to an industry insider, meaning South and Central Americas largest market has shrunk 16 percent since 2013. Since peaking at 1.37 million tons in 2013, the nations consumption of lubes has fallen three consecutive years as its economy declined due to its ongoing political crisis. Pedro Nelson, editor of the Lubes em Foco journal and news portal, suggested the market may be close to turning...

Iran Represents Opportunity for Central Asia Base Oil

MOSCOW – Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan – a region with sluggish base oil production and exports – could find fresh export demand in Iran after the lifting of economic sanctions, according to an industry insider. Denis Varaksin, base oil and slack wax sales manager for Berlin-based DYM, said Turkmenistan stands out among those three as having good potential to upgrade its base oil production capacities and increase its exports. Turkmenistan The base oil plant at Turkm...

Functional Products Acquires Infineums Paratac brand

Lubricant additives supplier Infineum sold its Paratac brand of tackifiers and associated business to Functional Products Inc., the companies announced last week. The financial terms were not disclosed. The Paratac line includes two products – Paratac and Paratac XT – which are formulated from polyisobutylene and which are used in industrial oils to protect against dripping, spattering and wipe off. Paratac is an oil solution made with high molecular weight polyisobutylene, contribut...

WD-40 Profit, Sales Up

WD-40 reported net income of $14.4 million for the quarter ending May 31, up 14 percent from a year earlier, with net sales up 2 percent at $98.2 million. Earnings amounted to $1.02 per diluted share in the third fiscal quarter, up from 88 cents a year earlier. San Diego-based WD-40s fiscal year goes from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31. Net sales were down 2 percent in the Americas at $49 million, up 4 percent in Europe, Middle East and Africa at $34.4 million, and up 8 percent in Asia-Pacific at $14.8 mill...

Briefly Noted

Cincinnati-based Pilot Chemical purchased ATRP Solutions of Pittsburgh as of July 10, expanding Pilots proprietary technologies in oil field chemicals, lubricant additives and paints and coatings. ATRP is a specialty polymer technology company and has developed a new class of proprietary rheology modifiers for oilfield and cosmetic markets. Puraglobesaid it is now producing Group III base oil at its rerefinery in Troeglitz, Germany, after converting 50 percent of its Group II production to Group III. The plant now has capacity to make 50,000 tons per year of Group II and 50,000 t/y of Group III base oil there.Case N Drum Oil, a subsidiary of Canadian distributor Crevier Group,acquired Trademark Oil, a lubricants and lubrication equipment distributor in Windsor, Ontario. Gazpromneft-Lubricants started marine lubricants deliveries in the sea port of Makhachkala, Republic of Dagestan, in southwestern Russia.

Correction

The April 19, 2017 article, Exceptions to be Made in Oil Ban should have said that the California Department of Food and Agriculture continues to enforce an existing statute – which began prohibiting sale of obsolete engine oil when it went into effect in January 2016 – while it works on fully developing and implementing the new regulatory language to address the use of specially formulated motor oils.