Worldwide sales of WD-40 and 3-in-One Oil in the quarter and year ending Aug. 31 were $50.2 million and $190.5 million respectively, posting a 1.2 percent drop for the quarter but a 9.4 percent gain for the year. This is the fourth year in a row where we have grown our lubricant business by more than 8 percent across the globe, said WD-40 Co. President and CEO Garry O. Ridge. The San Diego based lubricant, hand cleaner and household products manufacturer reported last week that total sales for t...

Ineos has decided to invest in its recently acquired polyalphaolefin business. The companys oligomers unit announced Monday that it will increase annual capacity at twoPAO plants by 50,000 metric tons by 2009. The Southhampton, U.K.-based chemical supplier acquired its plants – located in Feluy, Belgium, and La Porte, Texas – as part of its 2005 purchase of Innovene from BP. Ineos Oligomers said it is undertaking the expansion to accommodatecurrent and futuredemand for high performa...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is ready to beef up the menu of biobased lubricants that must receive preference by all federal agencies when making purchases, it announced recently. The products designated in an Oct. 11 proposed rulemaking – concrete and asphalt release agents, cutting, drilling and tapping oils, and firearm lubricants- represent a mere trickle of fluids, but they may further the government’s goal of displacing petroleum based products wherever possible in favor ...

Owners of a former waste management company are upgrading a dormant used oil rerefinery that would become the only source of rerefined base oil in the United Kingdom. Whelan Refining Ltd. plans to open its 50,000-metric-ton plant in Stoke-on-Trent during the first quarter of next year. Managing Director John Whelan said his company decided to revive the facility in view of a shift in the nations supply-demand balance for base oils. Traditionally a net exporter, the United Kingdom became a net im...

Average daily car counts rose at the typical U.S. fast lube in the past year, after several years of decline, while the average ticket for a standard lube oil and filter change now hovers around $30, according to National Oil & Lube News latest fast lube operator survey. Stores averaged net profits of around 12 percent on average per-store sales of more than $500,000. Published in the September issue of NOLN, the 2006 fast lube operators survey collected data on operations, prices, sales, b...

Regulatory agencies in the state of California have contracted a study to assess the amount of air pollution generated by motor oils through non-tailpipe emissions. The California Air Resources Board said it believes those emissions to be a major source of soot and that lubricant reformulation may be the solution. Until now, efforts to reduce mobile source emissions have focused on fuels, and great progress has been made in reducing the amount of pollution that comes from vehicles, Jerry Martin,...