Oil jobber Tri-Country Petroleum recently purchased Thomas Oil Co., a lubricant distributor based in Wood River, Ill. Both companies carry ExxonMobil products, Tri-County primarily fuels, Thomas mostly lubes. Officials with Tri-County, which is based in Pierron, Ill., said they took advantage of an opportunity to expand geographically. Thomas Oil became available when its principal, Jerry Thomas, decided to retire. Our base is this area in Southern Illinois which is mostly agricultural, Tri-Coun...

Lubrizol Corp. said Monday that it has opened a laboratory in Shanghai to provide technical assistance to industrial lubricant additive customers. The company said it did so to meet a growing need in Chinas burgeoning lubricant market. China is one of our most dynamic and growing markets, said Derek Phillips, industrial products manager in China. China presents some unique industrial lubricant issues, such as its material substrates and latest manufacturing practices. Our technical presence in S...

Citing a desire to carve out its share of Indias steadily growing lubricant market, Japanese refiner Idemitsu Kosan announced last week that it has formed a wholly owned subsidiary on the sub-continent. For more than a decade, Idemitsu Kosan has sold lubes in India through a partnership with Mumbai-based Savita Chemicals. The companies will keep that alliance intact to serve domestic companies, but Idemitsu officials said they wanted their own subsidiary to supply factory-fill needs of Japanese ...

Lubricant sales volumes in the United States fell 4 percent during the second quarter, compared to the same period of 2005, according to data released by the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association last week. Demand for all types of lubricants declined, while consumption of process oils underwent a moderate increase. The associations Quarterly Index of Lubricant Sales showed a 4.9 percent slide in volumes of automotive lubes for the three months ended June 30. Sales of industrial lubrica...

The worlds largest producer of white oils is back to selling its products itself. Petro-Canada Lubricants said last month that it is now directly selling white mineral oils produced at its base oil plant in Mississauga, Ontario. For several years the high-purity fluids were marketed by the former Crompton Corp. and by Sonneborn Inc., which ramped up its own production earlier this year. Weve been here as a producer all along, but we havent been as visible because we were supplying through third-...

Group I base suppliers in the United States are lowering prices this week, following markdowns by Group II suppliers the past two weeks. Collectively, the actions constitute the markets first general round of cuts in more thanfour and a halfyears. Lubricant blenders said it was high time for decreases, given the extent to which crude oil costs have fallen in recent weeks. Opinions split, though, about whether further cuts should be expected. Some observers suggested that looming price increases ...