Petro-Canada announced last week that it had settled a six-month strike by 475 Toronto-area employees, including most production workers at its Mississauga lubricants factory. A spokesman said the company managed the work stoppage without any disruptions to lubricant production, supply or delivery. Our goals all along have been to avoid disruptions to operations or safety and to reach an agreement that allowed the return of our employees, Jon Hamilton said. Were pleased that we were able to achi...

Plant managers responding to a recent U.S. lubricant industry salary survey earned an average of $67,428, nearly $10,000 less than those responding to the same survey a year earlier. According to LubesnGreases Magazine, which conducted the surveys, average pay for year 2001 respondents was consistently lower for plant managers employed by lubricant manufacturers and distributors alike. The average salary was also lower across most parts of the country, rising only in the south central region, wh...

Sunoco Inc. announced Thursday that it has agreed to sell its mothballed Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, base oil refinery to Shell Chemical. The deal apparently means that Yabucoa’s 9,200-barrel-per-day capacity for Group II base oils will be removed from the market permanently. Shell Chemical, a Houston-based subsidiary of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, said it plans to use the plant to produce fuels, as well as feedstocks for chemical plants in the United States. Its the nail in the coffin of Yabuc...

The tumult and trials that the international lubricants market has faced for the past decade should continue for the foreseeable future, according to the chief executive of Fuchs Petrolub AG. In a presentation scheduled today at the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association annual meeting in Las Vegas, Dr. Manfred Fuchs planned to recount a rocky period of dramatic consolidation, sharp shifts in regional consumption, increased competition and pressure on profitability. He also predicted th...