Volume 3 Issue 68

Fall Launch for SM Engine Oils?

On Friday the American Petroleum Institute’s Lubricants Committee met in telephone conference to discuss the results of its ballot on how and when to launch the new GF-4 and SM passenger car engine oils. The ballot, which was issued Feb. 24 and closed April 9, included two items relating to licensing of the new GF-4 engine oil specification, and 12 more items relating to its companion API Service Category upgrade, SM. The items regarding the ILSAC GF-4 engine oil specification, issued by a...

Lubrizol Buys Noveon for $1.84 Billion

This time Lubrizol reeled in a big one. After a series ofsmaller acquisitions over the past few years, the worlds biggest supplier of lubricant additive packages announced Friday that it has agreed to buy chemical maker Noveon International Inc. in a deal valued at $1.84 billion. The transaction brings Lubrizol close to meeting a three-and-one-half-year-old goal of doubling its size. It also dilutes the companys concentration in the lubricant industry. Lubrizol officials said Noveon brings leadi...

Mexico May Penalize Past Lube Imports

The Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association warned members this week that the Mexican government is auditing lubricant and base oil imports from the United States and is threatening to assess punitive duties against products for which adequate documentation is not shown. Exporters that do not show that their products met content regulations could receive bills for more than 38 percent of the value of shipments to Mexico between 2000 and 2001, according to an article in yesterdays issue o...

Koch Accelerates Invista Deal

DuPont announced this month that the target date for completing the sale of its Textiles and Interiors subsidiary, recently renamed Invista,to subsidiaries of Koch Industries has been accelerated to April 30. When the companies announced the deal in November, they projected it would close by June 30. The DuPont subsidiary is a $6.3 billion fibers and fiber intermediates supplier that markets a wide variety of products, including corrosion inhibitors sold under the Corfree brand. In its April 8 a...