The former president of 76 Lubricants Co. is reentering the industry with a hybrid broker-cooperative that will supply motor oils and other lubes to the installer market. Garry D. Rooney, who left 76 earlier this year after parent company Tosco Corp. announced plans to merge with Phillips Petroleum Corp., has established North American Lubricants Co. in tandem with partner Larry Read, a San Francisco businessman who owns a chain of quick lubes. They plan to retain a 50 percent stake in the compa...

CHS Cooperatives has reached a deal to buy Farmland Industries’ 40 percent share in their three-year-old joint venture, Country Energy. The purchase willonce again make CHSsole owner of the Cenex brand, Country Energy’s line of agricultural petroleum products, which CHSbrought to the alliance. But the businesswill be larger than it was in 1998, as CHS will also acquire Farmland facilities, including lubricant and grease plants. Bob Honse, president and chief executive officer of Kan...

The metalworking fluids sector, which already caters to a wide variety of manufacturing applications, is adding another to its list, thanks to the auto industry. Industry insiders and observers say that a growing number of European and U.S. automakers and their suppliers are replacing stamping and drawing operations with a process called hydroforming. Sources also agree that hydroforming requires different fluids and lubricants. This is an entirely different process from anything the lubricants ...