A variety of factors have been cited as contributing to the elevated level of base oil prices the past year and a half – cost of crude oil, the opportunity cost of making fuels, rebounding base oil demand. The outgoing chairman of Fuchs Petrolub AG recently added another trend to the list: the shrinking of the surplus of global base oil manufacturing capacity. Manfred Fuchs told a conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, April 20 that the cushion between the volume of base oil that the w...

Finnish refiner Fortum announced this week an expansion that will boost capacity at its Porvoo, Finland, base oil plant by 30,000 metric tons per year. Officials said the company is undertaking the U.S. $20 million project because of rising demand for Group III base oils. Fortum refers to the base stocks produced at Porvoo as enhanced high viscosity index oils. The demand for EHVI type of base oils increases by 15 percent annually in Europe, which is Fortums most important market area, Executive...

Lubricant and fluid supplier Acculube announced last week that it has acquired OEM Fluid Management, a provider of fluid management services. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Based in Springfield, Ohio, OEM offers a series of strategies designed to help manufacturers maximize the service life of common industrial fluids – ranging from metalworking fluids to industrial oils, greases, process oils and water treatment products. It patented a fluid management program that advises i...

Graham Packaging Holdings Co. reported last week that its operating income for the first quarter rose 17 percent from the same period of 2003, an announcement that could bode better times for a packaging industry that was hammered during the recession. Graham said it had net sales of $260.3 million for the three months ended March 28, 11.9 percent higher than the first quarter of 2003. That increase, combined with better efficiency, raised operating income $4.8 million to $33.2 million. The comp...