The European market was quiet last week due to a major industry event. Asia shut down for a while due to Golden Week, but the market in the U.S. Gulf was reasonably active post-Harvey. U.S. Gulf Demand is slowly starting to crank up again along the Far East route as pre-Harvey cargoes make an appearance. However, the final execution on many of these had to be put on hold because of widespread public holidays in Asia last week. Ethylene dichloride is one of the main commodities, with requirements...

Much of the recent passenger car lubricant news has been focused on the proposed API SN-Plus supplemental category. North American and Asian automakers though have made it clear that their main goal is still to get the ILSAC GF-6 engine oil category upgrade in place as soon as possible, with no delay due to the introduction of the supplemental category. API SN-Plus (a stop-gap designation to address engine-impairing low speed pre-ignition) became needed because of ongoing delays in developing GF...

Lanxess plans to terminate production at its recently acquired Ankerweg site by November 2018, the company announced last week. The former Chemtura polyalphaolefins plant produces base oils for industrial lubricants and active ingredients for an agrochemical company. After acquiring Chemtura in April of this year, Lanxess conducted an analysis of all former Chemtura production sites and determined the Ankerweg site cannot be run on a competitive basis. The facility has capacity to make 15,000 me...

Mining and commodities company Glencore agreed to acquire a 75 percent stake in Chevron South Africa and all of Chevron Botswana for $973 million, the company announced Friday. The deal is expected to close in mid-2018. The remaining 25 percent interest in Chevron South Africa will be held by a consortium of Black Economic Empowerment shareholders and an employee trust in accordance with South African regulations. The businesses involved in the transaction include all of Chevrons manufacturing, ...

Russian petrochemicals manufacturer Titan is preparing to produce greases at its 12,000 tons per year annual capacity plant in Novocherkassk, Rostov region. Titan recently established its subsidiary, Novocherkassk Lubricant Plant, at the site of a grease production complex that has been idle for more than a year. Now it is getting ready to restart production with a wide range of lubes and greases that it intends to supply in Russia. The grease production site will see additional investment for m...

Trescorp Alliance Pte., a Singaporean trader of oil and petroleum products, plans to establish a lubricant park in Sohar Port, Oman, a company official told Lube Report last week. A lube park similar to those owned by Shell, Total and Sinopec in Singapore is being considered, the official said. The lube park is still at the planning stages and we are looking at toll-blending of industrial lubricants, passenger car motor oils and marine lubricants. Construction of the five-hectare lube park wont ...