Bayer AG announced last week that it has failed to complete the sale of subsidiary Rhein Chemie Rheinau GmbH to investment firm Advent International Corp. Bayer and Advent announced a tentative agreement for the transaction in October but Leverkusen, Germany-based Bayer said Dec. 5 that the companies were unable to resolve a number of issues. The pharmaceutical giant said it will now consider a variety of options for Rhein Chemie. We are going to consider every option imaginable, spokesman Rolan...

S-Oil Corp. has begun producing Group III base oils at its Onsan, Korea, refinery after completing an expansion that more than doubled its capacity to 22,500 barrels per day. The company said it undertook the upgrade and expansion because it expects rising motor oil standards to spur increased demand for Group III stocks. A representative added that the projects attractiveness was enhanced by its relatively low price tag. It was pretty much done just by changing the catalyst, said Clarke David,...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Transportation Safety Board concluded yesterday that inadequate lubrication of a horizontal stabilizer component caused the crash of an Alaska Airlines plane that killed 88 people off the coast of California three years ago. In wrapping up an investigation that brought an unusual amount of attention to airframe maintenance, the board blamed the Seattle-based airline for inadequately greasing a jackscrew that helps control movement of the stabilizer – a...