GB Oils Ltd. has reached an agreement to acquire Chevrons equity distributor business in the United Kingdom, a 21.9 million (U.S. $40.3 million) deal that includes sales of Texaco-branded lubricants. The equity distributor business distributes approximately 1 billion liters per year of fuels, heating oils and lubricants to commercial, industrial, agricultural and domestic customers mostly in southern England and Wales. In announcing the acquisition Aug. 15, GBs parent company, Irish conglomerate...

A new, fully synthetic axle lubricant is now standard on Peterbilt and Kenworth Class 5 to 8 model trucks in the United States and Canada. Paccar, parent company for both truck manufacturers, claims that the synthetic oil – manufactured by Cincinnati based specialty chemical supplier Cognis – will give customers an estimated 1 percent fuel economy savings or,Paccar estimates, a savings of $900 in annual fuel costs per vehicle. Managing fuel costs is an important aspect of the overall...

SAE International will hold an open forum Oct. 7 to hear from heavy-duty OEMs, additive companies and lube marketers about the conflicting needs of OEMs who issue specialized lube requirements versus consensus standards that offer simplicity to lube suppliers and end users. Dewey Szemenyei, chairman of SAE Internationals Technical Committee 1 on Engine Lubrication, and a marketing manager for Afton Chemical in Richmond, Va., said it is a complex issue that makes for a good topic for discussion....

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Additive companies spend heavily to meet the latest engine oil specifications, but huge volumes of lower tier oils are still produced in emerging markets. Taking a modern engine oil additive package and down-treating to lower the cost is a dangerous game, says Lubrizol, which emphasizes the need for chemistry without compromise, even for obsolete categories. David Lancaster, Lubrizols U.K.-based business manager for regional growth, told the ICIS Asian Base Oils &...

Chevrons planned world-scale Pascagoula, Miss., base oil plant, announced last week, will focus on the North American and European premium base oil markets, with Latin America also in the mix, officials said. On Thursday Chevron announced it had submitted an environmental permit application to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality for construction of a 25,000 barrel per day premium base oil facility at its Pascagoula refinery. The project is subject to obtaining required permits a...