One year ago, Shell Oil Products US dropped a bomb on the lubricant industry by announcing plans to close its naphthenic base oil plant in Martinez, Calif. Coupled with the closure of Shells base oil plant in Deer Park, Texas, announced two months earlier, the shuttering of Martinez eliminated more than 20 percent of U.S. naphthenic capacity. But the loss of Martinez was even bigger news to the metalworking fluid industry. The plant provided 80 percent of the U.S. supply of natural sulfonates, w...

An official at Fuchs Petrolub AG said yesterday that the company expects the government of India to postpone a deadline for it to divest 24 percent of its subsidiary there, and hopes the government will eventually do away with the requirement altogether. The Mannheim, Germany, lubricant company also said it is expanding in India and plans to triple the size of its business there within four years. We are doing fine on our own and we want to continue marching forward in that way, said Alf Unterst...

Ethyl Corp. on Monday announced that it had net income of $37.1 million last year, an increase of more than 270 percent over 2002. The improvement was due both to the sale of its phenolic antioxidants business and improved sales. Ethyl soldits phenolic antioxidant business in Jan. 2003 to Albemarle Corp., a deal that yielded a one-time infusion of $14.8 million. But even without that revenue, recurring income from continuing operations jumped from $13.3 million in 2002 to $29.3 million in 2003. ...

Additive supplier Infineum announced Monday that it will build a technology center to house 200 employees in Milton Hill, U.K. Scheduled to open in July 2005, the center will replace research facilities that the company has leased for the past five years. Infineum, a joint venture formed five years ago between ExxonMobil Chemical Co. and the Royal Dutch/Shell companies, did not disclose the cost of the project. A spokesman said the center will include 60,000 square feet of office and laboratory ...