Shell Marine Products (US) Co. will receive a big – and potentially huge – contract to provide lubricants and related services to the agency that supplies American armed forces around the world, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Friday. The contract, awarded by the Navys Military Sealift Command, calls for an $8.6 million payout the first year. It also includes four one-year renewal options that, if exercised, would bring the total value to $46.5 million. The MSC, which is hea...

Earnings reports out the past week spotlighted growing revenue in the lubricant additives and lube industries. That did not necessarily translate into bigger profits, though, as companies showed mixed success passing on higher raw materials costs. Lubrizol Corp. boasted a 39 percent improvement in third quarter operating earnings from its lubricant additives segment. On the other hand, additive supplier Afton Chemical Corp. recorded a 48 percent drop in operating earnings from continuing operati...

Petronas apparently intends to make a mark with its first step into the base oil business. According to an announcement by ExxonMobil, Malaysias national oil company plans to build a plant with capacity to produce 6,500 barrels per day, most of it Group III. The project would immediately make Petronas one of the largest suppliers of Group III oils. Petronas has yet to make any formal statement about the project, first disclosed last summer when engineering firm Foster Wheeler Ltd. announced that...

HDPE has long been the plastic of choice for lubricant packagers. Now a Toronto-area start-up is challenging that practice by specializing in bottles made of PET. Pure PET Corp. began shipments in September. According to President and co-founder Ross Quantz, the new business aims to sell customers on the benefits of PET (polyethylene terephthalate). PET presents a lot of values, Quantz told Lube Report. It has great barrier properties – better than high-density polyethylene [HDPE] – ...