Volume 17 Issue 49

SSY Base Oil Shipping Report

Europe is looking busier at last, whereas the market within Asia has perhaps come off the boil. The United States is still strong in the direction of Asia, but otherwise had a quieter week. U.S. Gulf December space into the Far East has become very scarce, yet undeterred, traders continue to quote cargoes in this direction. The next step will probably be for some of the irregular carriers to go on berth, which will trigger another round of rate increases. Should cargo interest persist, levels of...

Steady Growth Forecast for Biobased Lubes

Kline & Co. estimates the global biobased lubricants market will grow at a compound annual rate of 5 percent over the next five years out to 2021 – fueled by factors such as increasing availability of high quality biobased base stocks – from an estimated base of 250,000 to 300,000 metric tons in 2016. Which is very good, robust growth, taking into account the almost flat growth for the entire finished lubricant market, Sharbel Luzuriaga, project manager for Klines energy practice...

Motiva Rolls Out Group III

JERSEY CITY, New Jersey – Following more than a year of rumor and speculation, Motiva officially is jumping into the API Group III base oil arena. Bryan Schorzman, general manager for Motiva base oils, announced last Thursday that the company has launched two Group III grades for the lubricants market – a 4 centiStoke cut and a 6 cSt cut – from its 40,300 barrel a day base oil refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. Well be going live with [price] postings for these products during Dec...

High-Performance Organic Friction Modifier Retains Performance

Studies from the United States Environmental Protection Agency indicated that 60 percent of greenhouse gas emissions emanate from light-duty vehicles (passenger cars and light-duty trucks). This discovery led to the 2012 Clean Air Act that mandated increased fuel efficiency standards. Specifically, U.S. standard EPA-420-F-12-051 established a required fuel efficiency for light-duty vehicles of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Subsequently, the International Lubricants Standardization and Approval ...

Nigeria Loses $200M to Counterfeiting Per Year

ACCRA, Ghana – Stakeholders in the Nigerian lubricant market estimate it loses more than $200 million annually in potential sales revenue to counterfeit lubricants. Tolulope Alabi, trade operator at OVH Energy Marketing, noted that the huge losses arising from counterfeiting stem from people circumventing due process. The potential impact of this is huge, especially on the reputation of the company whose products are being counterfeited and government revenue lost because counterfeiters do...

ARG Completes New Lab

American Refining Group completed construction on its new quality control lab in Pennsylvania, the company announced last week. The 6,400 square feet building was a multi-million dollar investment. Located on the grounds of ARGs Bradford, Pennsylvania, refinery, the facility includes a general test lab, a gas chromatography and distillation lab, a water and environmental lab and a thermal-test lab. Seventy different tests for oil, wax and fuels can be run, including, x-ray analysis for additive ...

Briefly Noted

Chain Guard Industrial Lubricants of Ontario, Canada, appointed Tortillaworld Inc. to distribute its products in California, Illinois, Nebraska, and Monterrey Nuevo Leon, Mexico; and Rovey Seed Co. to distribute its products in Illinois, Nebraska, and California.