Volume 6 Issue 52

United Fuel Buys Ackerly

Midland, Texas-based United Fuel and Energy Corp. on Dec. 19 announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ackerly Oil Co. Inc., based in Big Spring, Texas, which will give United Fuel a bulk plantfor lubricants as well as other productsnear one of its suppliers. Specifics of the all-cash transaction,expected to close at the end of this week, were not disclosed. Founded in 1976, Ackerly Oil has distributed gasoline, diesel, propane and lubricants to customers in west Texas...

Arizona Chemical Exits IP's Pages

Memphis, Tenn.-based International Paper announced on Dec. 19 it will sell its Arizona Chemical business – whose oleochemicals products are used in synthetic lubricants, grease and metalworking fluids, among other areas – to Rhone Capital III L.P. for $485 million. Arizona Chemical has been in the pine derivatives business for more than 75 years. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., the company supplies pine chemicals to the adhesives, inks and coatings, and oleochemicals markets. I...

Chemtura Snares Hatco and Anderol

Specialty chemicals company Chemtura said that through acquisition it plans to move into two lubricants markets. Chemtura Corp. and Kaufman Holdings Corp. announced Dec. 21 that they have signed a letter of intent for Chemtura to acquire Kaufmans stock in a cash transaction expected to close in the first quarter of 2007. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Through this transaction, Chemtura would gain strong positions in two exciting new markets: high-growth lubricants for CFC-free ref...

Do Group I Plants Have a Future?

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Some Group I plants will go away, but some will survive by developing markets for their products and byproducts, by selling lower tech in a high tech world, by developing export markets, and by adding production of desired base oils, according to Group I refiner Valero Energys Terry Hoffman. Hoffman, Valeros San Antonio, Texas-based director of base oil and process oil sales, foretold the future of API Group I base oil refineries in the United States at the ICIS Pan-Am...

Biocides: Fewer Choices, Higher Costs

As the lubricants industry girds for the introduction of the European Unions REACH legislation, metalworking fluid suppliers in the region are already grappling with another chemical registration mandate – the Biocides Product Directive. Some say the rule, which is being phased in this year and next, will push suppliers to stop offering many of the biocides available today and drive up costs for those that remain. The Biocides Product Directive is separate from REACH (which stands for regi...