Springtime has put some welcome wind back into the sails of the next gasoline engine oil upgrade, GF-4. Auto and oil industry representatives are expected to agree tothe final test battery and final test limits for the spec by June 26. The first front on which GF-4 is making significant progress is the testing matrix for the single, critical new engine test, the 100-hour, General Motors-sponsored Sequence IIIG, which measures high temperature deposits, wear and oxidation. The testing matrix is n...

The University of Northern Iowa has received a $1 million federal grant to begin expanding its Ag-Based Industrial Lubricants Research Program into a national testing center for bio-based lubes. Officials said it will take another five years of grants – plus financial contributions from industry – to establish a comprehensive center. But much sooner than that they expect the center will start greasing the way for agricultural-based products to enter the lubricants market. We are seei...

BASF and ExxonMobil Chemical Co. announced Monday that BASF has acquired ExxonMobils Vistanex LM polyisobutylene business. The companies did not disclose terms of the deal,which did not include manufacturing facilities or personnel. ExxonMobil Chemical will continue making Vistanex MM high molecular weight polyisobutylene at its Baytown, Texas, facility and supplyingit worldwide. For the immediate future, ExxonMobil Chemical has agreed to continue making Vistanex LM products and to sell them to ...

Ethyl Corp. posted a profit of $16.3 million in the first quarter of 2003 after losing $1.6 million during the same period of 2002, but the improvement was mostly due to the sale of its phenolic antioxidants business. On a per-share basis, this years first quarter yielded a profit of 98 cents, compared to a loss of 10 cents for the year-ago period. The January sale of its phenolics business to Albemarle Corp. netted Ethyl $14.8 million after taxes during the quarter ended March 31. Excluding tha...

Lubricant marketer Cam2 Oil Products Co., of New Britain, Pa., announced last week that it has purchased BoMac Lubricant Technologies, of Greensboro, N.C. Cam2 officials said the acquisitionexpands their business, which has focused on automotive lubes, into the commercial and industrial segments. Both companies are privately held and terms of the deal were not disclosed. Officials likewise declined to provide information about the size of the companies, except to categorize Cam2 as medium-size a...