A fire last Thursday morning on a gasoline platformer at the Calumet Lubricants refinery in Shreveport La. is not expected to have any impact on the plants base oil production. The plant has the capacity to produce a total of 9,600 barrels per day of lubricant base stocks, including 3,000 b/d of API Group I stocks, 6,500 b/d of Group II, and 100 b/d of naphthenics. Shreveport Fire Department units responded to the fire and assisted Calumets own fire service crews. Shreveport Fire Department spo...

An explosion and fire at 3 a.m. last Thursday at Imperial Oils Sarnia refinery in Ontario put a hydrocracker unit out of commission for an undetermined period of time. The 18,000 barrel per day hydrocracker produces components for lubricant base stock, along with gasoline and diesel fuel. The Sarnia refinery is a 121,000 b/d refinery. Its paraffinic base oil capacity includes 2,800 b/d of Group 1 and 3,800 b/d of Group II. Pius Rolheiser, spokesman for Imperial Oil, said the hydrocracker was the...

Laboratory, R&D and technical managers who work for U.S. lubricant manufacturing companies say they earn as much as $240,000 a year – and as little as $48,000. These key industry employees earn on average $107,112, according to the latest Lubricants Industry Salary Survey conducted by LubesnGreasesmagazine. That average is 17 percent higher than the reported average of $91,012 in 2004, the last time the magazine conducted its biennial survey, and 25 percent higher than 2002s $86,000 ...

The Council of the European Union on Monday unanimously adopted the REACH legislation (registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals), cornerstone of a new European chemicals policy, which replaces about 40 legislative instruments now in force. The new law, which goes into effect June 1 of next year, has far-reaching impacts for Europes petroleum additives, grease and lubes industries, and will also affect companies that send chemicals, or equipment that contains chemicals, into Europe...