Lubrizol recently announced the acquisition of two product lines, defoamers and emulsion explosives additives, from Lambent Technologies Corp., a subsidiary of Petrofirm. The defoamers are silicone products that have been manufactured at Lambents Norcross, Ga., plant. Lubrizol will produce the materials – used in metalworking fluids, coatings, ink, food and pharmaceutical manufacturing and textile processing – at its Ross Chem Inc. plant in Fountain Inn, S.C. The emulsion explosives ...

When Shell Oil bought out Texacos share of Equilon Enterprises LLC in January, it set off a battle for the lubricants distribution network that the oil companies shared for three years. Even before the sale – required by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission as a condition of its approval of the Chevron-Texaco merger – Shell and ChevronTexaco began competing for the allegiance of distributors who could deliver their products, not to mention the accounts they serve. Like blue-chip footbal...

U.S. naphthenic base oil prices jumped Friday when Valero announced a hike of 11 cents per gallon on postings for all products. Valero, which became a naphthenic refiner when it bought Ultramar Diamond Shamrock last year, is the only U.S. supplier posting prices on that side of the market. There appeared to be solid consensus that the market was ripe for a price hike, due to supply and cost issues. The most obvious factor was the price of crude oil, which has risen more than 33 percent since Jan...