Chevron Global Lubricants said last month that it has agreed to sell a blending plant and fuels terminal in Skaramanga, Greece, to an affiliate of gasoline supplier Aegean Petroleum S.A. The transaction marked Chevrons second divestment inEurope in three weeks. The Skaramanga facilities, operated by Texaco Greek Lubricants Co., are slated to be purchased by Melco Petroleum S.A., an owner and manager of fuels terminals. In a July 27 news release, Chevron said the companies still must work out det...

Rarely do the animal welfare and chemical industries work together on legislative issues, but the Antifreeze Bittering Act has drawn support from these unlikely bedfellows, as well as bipartisan support in Congress. Industry supporters are optimistic that federal legislation requiring ethylene glycol antifreeze to contain a bittering agent, making it unpalatable to humans and pets, will become law in this session of Congress. Nearly 5,600 cases of ethylene glycol poisoning were reported to poiso...

Petrobras, Brazils government-controlled oil giant, announced last week that its Lubrax lubricant line now has the leading market share in the Mercosul countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay), with 18 percent of the combined market, compared to less than 15 percent for the runner-up. Petrobras – Petroleo Brasileiro S.A., headquartered in Rio de Janeiro – attributed the market data, effective at the end of 2005, to a survey of lubricant-marketing and other business organiz...

The worlds largest lubricant market should resume growing over the next five years, albeit slowly, according to a new study by a market research firm. Freedonia Group said Monday that it expects lubricant volume demand in the United States to grow an average of 0.9 percent per year through 2010. That would represent an improvement over the past five years, when demand declined an average of 0.2 percent. The study, titled Lubricants, has a sunnier outlook for the revenue reaped from lubricants. I...

Lyondell Chemical Co. bought Citgos stake in their Lyondell-Citgo Refining joint venture last week and then agreed to sell the naphthenic base oils produced by the Houston refinery to the U.S. subsidiary of AB Nynas Petroleum. It adds up to one less pale oil marketer in the United States and more barrels in the hands of Nynas,already the worlds biggest naphthenic marketer. The buyout of Citgo gives Lyondell sole ownership once again of the joint ventures refinery in Houston. Lyondell contributed...