Trade out of the U.S. Gulf picked up this week, but there is still much to be established, both in terms of imports and exports. Europe has been marginally busier, while Asian activity may just have peaked in the last day or two. U.S. Gulf A number of force majeure declarations remain in force among U.S. producers, but it would seem that most of the cargoes to the Far East that had been trying to move in the days before Harvey have started to emerge once again. Several large cargoes of methanol ...

At its Standards meeting last week in Dearborn, Michigan, the American Petroleum Institutes Lubricants Group again took up the feasibility of issuing a supplemental engine oil category, as urged by 10 North American and Japanese automakers. Likely to be called API SN PLUS, the proposed category would meet all requirements for current APISNoils and add a new test to safeguard engines against the debilitating events known as low-speed pre-ignition. SN Plus would be a side-step on the way to the ne...

Base oil production at U.S. refineries amounted to nearly 30.8 million barrels in first-half 2017, according to data released Aug. 31 by the federal Energy Information Administration. Thats an increase of 5.6 percent over the 29.1 million barrels produced January-to-June 2016. This years first-half total included 25.8 million barrels of paraffinic base oil plus 4.9 million of naphthenic base oil. For comparison, in first-half 2016 paraffinic base oil production was 24.7 million barrels, and pale...

CHICAGO- Political, environmental and regulatory issues are working together to shape the industrial lubricants landscape near- to mid-term, according to a presentation given by Kline and Co. at the ICIS North American Industrial Lubricants conference held here. Factors such as Marpol anti-pollution mandates, chlorinated paraffins and lawsuits aimed at reforming the way businesses and governments address climate change are listed as having the greatest potential impact on the industry. Developed...

United States quick lubes average ticket totals reached $76.46, up 7.1 percent, and the average number of oil changes per day rose to 34, up about 7 percent from the year before, National Oil & Lube News reported in the first part of its 2017 Fast Lube Operators Survey. Published in three parts – in its September, and in upcoming October and November issues – the 2017 survey compiled data from more than 7,000 facilities, up from 5,837 facilities for the 2016 survey, in all 50 U....