Chemical giant Bayer AG announced plans to divest three subsidiaries, including rubber and lubricant additives manufacturer Rhein Chemie Rheinau GmbH. Rhein Chemies biggest business is selling additives for rubber processing but it also makes light-colored, low-odor sulfurized EP additives for lubricants, along with antiwear additives, corrosion inhibitors and some additive packages. Eighty percent of its lube additives go into metalworking fluids and greases, with the rest going to industrial h...

South African lubricant manufacturer Mega Lube CC announced plans to invest 450 million rupees (US$9.4 million) to build a lubricant blending plant in Gujarat, India and expand an existing plant in Gurgaon, India. The new facility in Gujarat, like the Gurgaon plant, will be operated by Mega Lube India Ltd., a joint venture between Mega Lube CC and Rockman Group, which own 35 percent and 65 percent, respectively. Officials said the Gujarat plant will be completed in 12 months. The Gurgaon expansi...

As the deadline to begin work on the next generation of passenger car engine oils presses ever closer, an impatient auto industry says it has approached another organization about replacing the American Petroleum Institute as the world’s engine oil licensing agent. In early November, General Motors’ Mike McMillan presented a “take it or leave it” proposal to API’s Lubricants Committee, stating the auto industry’s final position on how to revamp the engine oil ...

Life isnt easy for Mexicos biggest lubricants company, not even with a cushy if contested deal giving it exclusive access to the shelves of the nations gasoline stations. Mexicana de Lubricantes had it tough enough operating with enormous debt in an increasingly competitive market. Now the Guadalajara-based company says it is also battling misleading reports that it is drowning in its debt, that it may soon be sold and that it is losing its corner on gasoline stations. Mexlubs managing director ...