LukOil announced last week that it has upgraded the quality of API Group I base oils produced at its plant in Nizhni Novgorod and that it plans to do the same at facilities in Volgograd and Perm. Part of efforts to increase the appeal of their stocks in Western Europe, officials said the initiative has raised the viscosity index of oils produced at Nizhni Novgorod by approximately 8 points. This is a considerable improvement, and puts our products in line with Western European standards, said V...

Erickson Metals Corp., an aluminum processing company, has agreed to pay a $35,000 penalty to settle Environmental Protection Agency claims that it failed to prepare an oil spill prevention plan that could have prevented a cutting oil spill that damaged wildlife and nearby bodies of water at its Cheshire, Conn., facility in July 2006. The agreement, announced Thursday, settles claims cited in a complaint filed by EPAs New England field office against the company, for illegally discharging as mu...

Petrobras, Brazils state-controlled oil company, said it will reschedule a maintenance turnaround at the base oils plant of its Duque de Caxias refinery in Rio de Janeiro for this month or next. The company has also postponed from 2013 to 2015 the scheduled completion date for plans to upgrade a train at Duque de Caxias from API Group I to Group II capability. Renato Oliveira, lubricant coordinator for Petrobras, said the company postponed a scheduled turnaround after a stoppage in June, and th...

A newly formed affiliate of private equity investment firm AEA Investors LLC will acquire Houghton International, which provides lubricants and specialty chemicals, the companies announced Monday. Subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, the agreement is expected to close before the end of this year. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Valley Forge, Pa.-based Houghton said there will be no immediate changes to its range of product and service offerings, facilities or employment....

Major wax end-users are capitalizing on the global shift to alternative waxes such as vegetable-based, animal-based and synthetic waxes as a marketing opportunity to sell their products, according to a study published by consulting and research firm Kline and Company. The transition comes as worldwide supplies of petroleum-based wax continue to decline. According to the report, Global Opportunities and Threats in the Wax Business, 2006-2020, the candle industry, which accounts for nearly half o...

IMACC Corp. has sold a majority share of the assets in its corporate holdings, Myers Container LLC and Container Management Services LLC, to longtime shareholders, the Stavig family. Under the deal, Chief Executive officer Kyle Stavig, Vice President Christian Stavig and Cody Stavig will have a controlling interest in two steel drum manufacturing facilities under Myers Container in Industry, Calif., and Portland, Ore. They will also operate four container reconditioning facilities under CMS in ...