Sinclair Oil Corp. has tapped Haycock Petroleum Co. as its distributor for its line of Arctic Fire brand lubricants in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of Idaho. Haycock Petroleum is one in a network of distributors that will supply Sinclairs distribution territory in 23 states in the West and Midwest regions. Along with our other distributors, the addition of Haycock Petroleum as a distributor completes coverage in the western mountain states, said Greg Iverson, Sinclairs marketing manager. Sin...

Huntsman Corp. and Al-Zamil Group yesterday announced their fifty-fifty joint venture, Arabian Amines Co., has broken ground on its 27,000 metric tons per year ethyleneamines project in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Ethyleneamines are used by Huntsman customers in a variety of end-use applications, including lube oils, fungicides, paper resins, epoxies and chelants. The largest application area for ethyleneamines is in ashless dispersants for engine oils and in other lubricants, and in some dispersant-...

Financial results for the quarter ending March 31 saw an increase in operating income at lubricant blender Valvoline, while the year 2007 saw a solid performance by Cognis’ functional products business unit, which includes businesses that produce synthetic lubricants and specialty chemicals used in lubricant additives, although Cognis as a whole reported a net loss for the year. Valvoline parent company Ashland said the lube blender reported operating income of $24.1 million for the three ...

South Korean base oil refiners S-Oil and SK Energy each reported strong growth in lubricants revenue for the quarter ending March 31, and declines in operating income in their respective lubricants divisions, compared to 2007s first quarter. S-Oils lubricants division reported a 37 percent decline in operating income for the three months ending March 31, to 54 billion Korean won (U.S. $54.2 million), down from 85.7 billion won ($85.9 million) during the year-earlier period. Revenue for S-Oils lu...

Brazilian ethanol giant Cosan S.A. agreed with ExxonMobil International Holdings last week to buy its Esso Brasileira de Petroleo Ltda. subsidiary and its affiliates that market and distribute fuels, lubes and specialties. The purchase is valued at $826 million. According to Sao Paulo-based Cosan, the acquired assets include a lubricants plant in Rio de Janeiro, and a controlling stake in a lubes terminal in Duque de Caxias. Cosan and ExxonMobil have also entered into long term agreements that w...

MOSCOW – Foreign lubricant suppliers grabbed a bigger share of Russias market in 2007. Imports increased 33 percent over 2006, an InfoTek-Consult official told the World Refining Associations Base Oils and Lubricants in Russia and the CIS conference here April 16, and now account for 19 percent of demand. Natalia A. Kapitonova, the head of InfoTeks Department for Oil Product Market Research, said Russia consumed 1,708,000 metric tons of lubricants in 2007, a decrease of 2.6 percent from th...

While Marathons decision to exit the lubricants market and close its Catlettsburg, Ky., base oil plant may have stunned some customers last week, it came as less of a surprise to others, who saw the company as one of the most vulnerable base oil suppliers in a market that is outstripping global demand. In its April 23 letter to customers, Marathon Petroleum explained that finished product specifications and commodity markets have changed significantly over the last few years, negatively impactin...