SHANGHAI – PetroChina and Sinopec are both striving to rake profits out of Chinas rapidly growing automotive lubricant market, but they are employing different branding strategies to do so. The president of PetroChina Lubricant Co. told the 10th Annual Fuels& Lubes Asia Conference here last week that the company plans to be the leading domestic lubricant company in three to five years, and well known internationally by 2010. To meet that goal, PetroChina Lubricant Co. will build a por...

SHANGHAI – China is 18 months into an unprecedented economic growth spurt, which may last a total of three to five years. Consumer demand will drive above-average growth in the country that is widely recognized as Asias high-growth locomotive. While the future may be bumpy, one expert predicts that locomotive will stay on track. These are not ordinary times in China, Hugh Peyman, president of the Shanghai-based research company Research-Works, told the 10th Annual Fuels & Lubes Asia C...

The parent company of Kluber Lubrication last week announced the purchase of a U.S. release agents manufacturer and said it will fold the business into a newly created specialty chemicals unit. Freudenberg and Co., based in Weinheim, Germany, acquired Chem-Trend, which it described as the worlds leading manufacturer of special release agents for the molding of rubber, plastic and polyurethane and for the high-pressure die casting industry. Chem-Trend, of Howell, Mich., has a workforce of 410 and...

U.S.-based consultancy Kline and Co. has established a more direct presence in China by acquiring the Shanghai office of Etonwood Pte. Ltd., its affiliate for the Asia-Pacific region. The deal, announced last week, gives Kline control of an office that Etonwood opened in 1997 and which employs six. China is clearly a growth market for many of the industries that we provide our services to, and having experienced, full-time staff on the ground there is key to our long-term business plans in the r...