Award-winning business editor and reporter George Gill joined LNG Publishing Co. last week as editor of Lube Report. Gill replaces Tim Sullivan, who has been promoted to managing editor of LubesnGreases Europe, Middle East & Africa Edition, scheduled to launch in mid-2007. Beginning next week, Lube Report will be emailed from George Gill, george@LNGpublishing.com. To avoid delivery problems, subscribers should enter that address in your address books or otherwise white list it. George Gill ...

Friction Control Solutions, or Fricso, announced last week that its nanolayer-based technology to reduce friction between moving metal parts has been awarded the 2006 Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation Award in the field of automotive coatings. The award recognizes Fricsos Surface Engineering Treatment technology, which reduces friction using a mechanical process. Fricsos solution is an innovative device, which could potentially replace existing non-environment-friendly coatings in the ...

Diversified container maker Greif Inc. has announced an agreement to purchase Blagden Packaging Groups steel drum manufacturing and closures divisions in Europe and Asia, which had net sales of $265 million on an annualized basis. Greif (which rhymes with life) did not disclose terms of the deal, which the company anticipates will close in its first quarter of fiscal 2007. Greifs fiscal year began Nov. 1. In September, Greif purchased lubricant compounder and packager Delta Petroleum Co. from an...

Nynas Naphthenics, which is doing booming business in the growing naphthenic oils market, has reshuffled personnel and positions, starting at the top. Per Dalhstedt is taking over from Tomas Wallin as head of Stockholm, Sweden-based Nynas Naphthenics,the leading producer of naphthenic oils in the world. In the companys latest Naphthenics magazine, Dahlstedt said he plans to double the companys sales within five years. To achieve this, changes are needed at Nynas and work on these is already in p...

Last week brought positive financial reports from two lubricant suppliers and a major refiner, as both Quaker Chemical and Milacrons Industrial Fluids segment reported increased profits. South Korean refiner SK Corp. also reported strong profits for its lubricant division. SKs lubricant division reported a 91 percent increase in operating profit for the three months ended Sept. 30 to 56.2 billion South Korean Won (U.S. $59.7 million), up from 29.5 billion Won (U.S. $31.3 million) during the same...

NICE, France – Truck manufacturer Volvo has an encouraging forecast for lubricant marketers concerned about the proliferation of heavy-duty engine oil specifications: Those standards could converge by the end of this decade. That prediction was part of a Oct. 26 presentation given here by Bengt Otterholm, lubricants coordinator for Volvo Technology Corp., at the annual meeting of the Independent Union of the European Lubricant Industry (UEIL). He concluded that oil specifications in North ...