Volume 2 Issue 17

Base Oil Importer Readies U.S. Outlet

As an international base oil distributor, Chemlube International Inc. has concluded that the U.S. market would support a steady flow of imports. Now the Harrison, N.Y., company is testing that theory by opening a terminal and blending plant in Savannah, Ga. It plans to leverage the savings from European imports to supply low-cost base stocks and finished industrial and commercial lubes to the eastern United States. The facilities are located at ST Services terminal on the Savannah River. Base o...

Quarterly Results: A Mixed Bag

Quarterly financial reports issued during the past week offered mixed signals about the health of the lubricants industry. The Lubrizol Corp. reported a 61 percent jump in income but expressed caution about the rest of the year. Ashland Inc. said profits from Valvoline declined but that is was pleased with the subsidiarys performance. Milacron Inc. announced a $1.8 million operating loss for its Metalworking Technologies division but predicted that it will turn around later this year. Lubrizols ...

Online Lube Sales Primed for Take-off

In the age of the Internet, online sales of lubricants have been slow to take off. But e-commerce is primed to make rapid growth in the lubes industry, according to a report by Kline and Co. consultants. Selling Lubricants Online 2001 predicts that by 2005 a third of all lubes sales in the United States will be transacted across the World Wide Web. E-commerce service providers agreed with Klines conclusion that lubricant companies have taken to online trading much more slowly than some other ind...