Volume 3 Issue 59

API Grapples With SM Oil Spec

After seven weeks in winter hibernation APIs Lubricants Committee came sharply awake with two conference calls to develop specifications for APIs new companion category to ILSAC GF-4, to be called SM. Vehicle manufacturers issued GF-4, the new gasoline engine oil specification, through ILSAC, the International Lubricant Standardization and Approval Committee, on Jan. 14. APIs Lubricants Committee is responsible for defining the SM specifications which will become a worldwide standard. It has 13 ...

Bandag Buys Majority Stake in Speedco

Tractor-trailer tire retreader Bandag Inc. announced Friday that it has purchased a controlling stake in Speedco Inc., a U.S. chain of quick-lubes for trucks. Speedco had been a partnership between the companys founders and Shell Oil Products US, but Shell sold its interest as part of the transaction. Bandag, which is based in Muscatine, Iowa, paid $56 million to acquire an 87.5 percent stake in Speedco and to retire $20.1 million of debt. Speedcos three founders retain 12.5 percent of the compa...

Earnings Up For Quaker Chem, Milacron

Quaker Chemical Corp. announced yesterday that its net income for 2003 was 3.7 percent higher than in 2002, with sales revenue jumping 24 percent. Milacron Inc. reported earlier that the operating profit for its industrial fluids business grew 9 percent last year, mostly due to favorable currency exchange rates. Quaker Chemical, of Conshohocken, Pa., said it had sales revenue of $340.2 million last year, up from $274.5 million in 2002. Acquisitions added $14 million to the top line, while favora...

Cargill Expands Bioesters Plant

Cargill Industrial Oils and Lubricants announced last week that it is doubling the capacity of a Chicago factory that manufactures plant-based esters. The company said the expansion will accommodate increased sales of lubricant products, as well as intermediates for paints and coatings. Cargill declined to disclose the capacity of the facility or the cost of the project, which is scheduled to be completed March 1. A spokesman did say the expansion would add well over 10 million pounds to its ann...