Volume 6 Issue 9

Engine Hardware Propels Base Stock Upgrades

LONDON – Internal combustion engines, both gasoline and diesel, will be the power plants of choice through 2015 and beyond, despite intense activity on alternatives, Infineum predicts. Tomorrows cleaner engines will drive greater investment in higher quality API Group III base stocks, likely GTL-derived. This in turn will require new industry efforts to generate data and define new base stock interchange rules for these Group III stocks. Advanced engine hardware is being introduced in bot...

Petronas Awards Group III Contract

Malaysias Petronas on Monday offered its first official confirmation of plans to build a Group III base oil plant, announcing the awarding of a contract for engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning. Formally named Petroliam Nasional Bhd., the company until now has declined to discuss or confirm the existence of the project, even after Foster Wheeler and ExxonMobil announced in 2004 that they had received contracts for it – for consulting and process technology, respectively...

Profits Down at Quaker Chemical, Flat at Milacron

Industrial lubricants suppliers were challenged in 2005 by steep increases in costs of raw materials, according to financial results that two companies released last week. Quaker Chemical Corp. said its net income for 2005 was down 81 percent from 2004 because of cost increases and a less favorable mix of products sold. Meanwhile, Milacron said the bottom line for its Industrial Fluids segment was essentially unchanged for largely the same reasons. Quaker Chemical announced Feb. 21 that it had n...

LukOil: A Look at Lubes in Russia

LONDON – LLK-International, the company created Jan. 1 to produce and market LukOils lubricants, offered a look at Russias 1.9 million metric ton lubricant market. While just 10 percent of Russias motor oil market meets or exceeds API SF/CC standards, quality is rising. LukOil plans to introduce polyalphaolefins this year, to double its Group III production in 2007, and to open a new Group II-plus and Group III facility in 2010. Mikhail Chekov, head of marketing and business development at...

GM Upgrading Transmission Plant

The grande dame of transmission plants – General Motors Toledo, Ohio, facility – is getting a massive facelift for her 90th birthday. GM says it will invest $500 million to expand and upgrade the 1.8 million-square-foot plant to produce a new six-speed, rear-wheel-drive automatic transmission for full-size SUVs and trucks. The expansion is part of a GM mission to produce 3 million six-speed automatics annually by 2010 – all of them promising better performance and greater fuel ...

Motiva Allocations Strain Supply Shortage

Perhaps unrealistically, some lubricant blenders have looked to the looming expansion of Motivas Port Arthur, Texas, base oil plant as a partial solution to the supply disruptions gripping the U.S. market. Instead, the company on Friday became part of the problem as it joined the list of producers that have imposed sales allocations. Motiva attributed its action to maintenance work in another part of the Port Arthur refinery complex, which apparently has contributed to the delay in starting its ...