Chemtool Inc. is within two months of opening a grease plant in Tehachapi, Calif., with capacity to produce up to 75 million pounds per year,making it by far the largest grease plant in the western United States, the company announced last week. Chemtool officials acknowledged that the project might surprise some, given the doldrums in which the U.S. grease industry has been mired. But they said that the markets consolidation fits into their strategy, which is to fill thevoid left by the large n...

A British private equity firm announced Thursday that it has agreed to sell Italian lubricant company FL Selenia to a U.S. firm, Vestar Capital Partners, for Euro 670 million (U.S. $752 million). The deal, described as a management buyout, comes three years after London-based Doughty Hanson and Co. acquired FL Selenia from a unit of Italian automaker Fiat. FL Selenia, which is headquartered in Turin, Italy, claims to be the worlds largest independent blender and distributor of automotive lubrica...

Calumet Lubricants Co. said last week that it is upgrading its Shreveport, La., base oil refinery to increase capacity by 3,000 barrels per day and to raise the quality of two cuts from Group I to Group II. By installing a second hydrotreating unit, which is expected to come online in December, the company says it will improve its solvent neutral 325 and 700 to Group II quality. The plant already produces several lightweight Group IIs. It also produces a Group I bright stock. Vice President of S...