The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently reached a $20,000 settlement with Pacific Marine and Industrial Corp., for used oil and hazardous waste management violations at its power plant in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands. The Saipan-based company corrected the violations and also agreed to spend over $68,000 to conduct a series of environmental projects that will focus on used oil management including storage and spill prevention at commercial facilities. Dean Higuchi, EPA Region 9 sp...

OAO LukOil and local government officials took part in an official opening last week for the second stage of a motor oil packaging terminal at the Perm, Russia, refinery. According to LukOil, the terminal is designed to have capacity to handle up to 140,000 metric tons per year of motor oil. Three process lines in the packaging area ensure production and filling of newly designed 1.4 and 5 liter oil cans. The new oil complex also includes an automated storage facility for more than 4,000 pallet...

A lubricant coating using nanotechnology from the research arm of ApNano Materials Inc., an Israeli manufacturer of solid lubricants, has been developed by Europes Foremost consortium. Foremost (short for Fullerene-based Opportunities for Robust Engineering: Making Optimized Surfaces for Tribology) – a 31-member project under the auspices of the European Union – manufactured the product using nanoparticles called inorganic fullerenes, structures of nested spheres that lubricate engi...

Pilot Chemical recently acquired all the product lines of Intertrade Holdings Inc., including sulfonates and organic acids that complement Pilots chemicals used in metalworking fluids, for an undisclosed amount. Intertrade is a chemical manufacturer in Copperhill, Tenn. The acquisition, executed on March 25, enables Cincinnati-based Pilot to offer customers seven new products, in bulk and packaged quantities. Pilot makes a variety of corrosion inhibitors and emulsifiers used in metalworking flu...

Including lower capacities for two ExxonMobil base oil plants, base oil capacity in the United States stood at 218,900 barrels per day as of Jan. 1, down 1.4 percent from the beginning of 2007, according to the 2008 Lubricating Oil and Wax Capacities Report by the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. The largest drop shown in the 2008 NPRA report is the 2,500 b/d capacity decrease, to 10,000 b/d of API Group I capacity, at ExxonMobils Beaumont, Texas, plant. The company also reported...

Citgo Petroleum Corp. in an April 2 letter informed customers that it plans to reduce production at its Lake Charles, La., lubricants and wax refinery – which has 9,500 barrels per day of API Group I base oil capacity – to concentrate on its finished lubricants business. In its notice to customers, Citgo explained the decision was consistent with a comprehensive evaluation of its lubricants business. As of the date of this letter, any purchase orders for base oil, process oil or wax ...