Oxea plans to raise list and off-list prices for several solvents across several regions, while Kraton Polymers said it will raise prices on SBS-based polymers and compounds in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Pilot Chemical will raise surfactant prices and implement allocations for surfactants. Oberhausen, Germany-based Oxea on Sept. 15 said it would increase off-list prices on a variety of solvents – butyl acetate, butanol, propyl acetate and propanol – by 3 cents per pound in t...

Chevron Corp. said Friday that it has agreed to sell its downstream business in Nigeria to an African consortium for an undisclosed amount. The transaction includes a lubricant blending plant in Lagos, Nigeria. Under terms of the proposed agreement, Chevron subsidiary Chevron Africa Holdings Ltd. will sell Chevron Nigeria Holdings Ltd., a Bermuda company, to Corlay Global S.A., a Panamanian company co-owned by M.R.S. Holdings Ltd. and Petroci Holdings. Chevron Nigeria Holdings owns 60 percent o...

Car counts continue their 13-year decline at U.S. quick lube facilities, which are servicing an average of 33.9 cars per day this year, down 1.5 carsfrom 2007, while the average ticket rose nearly 8 percent in the past year to $50.80, according to National Oil & Lube News 2008 Fast Lube Operators Survey. Operators faced a 19 percent hike in the average per-gallon cost of their highest volume bulk oil over the last year. Led by rising oil costs, the average cost of goods sold for a standard, ...

China National Offshore Oil Corp. is entering the paraffinic base oil market. The state-owned oil giant has broken ground on a 400,000 metric ton per year (7,700 barrel per day) API Group II/IIIplant in Huizhou, in southern Chinas Guangdong province. CNOOC announced the ground breaking at ICIS/C1 Energys China Base Oils & Lubricants Summit in Guangzhou earlier this month. According to sources at the meeting, the plant will produce three grades of base oils: 200,000 t/y of 220 neutral, 140,0...

Lube manufacturers and distributors in the Houston area are focused on employee safety and keeping their business operations on track as they assess the damage and cope with disruptions following Hurricane Ike, which hammered the southeastern coast of Texas on Sept. 13. The hurricane hit the regions infrastructure hard, disabling power lines and flooding roadways. Sources say it has complicated, not crippled, business activity in the industry. Most of Houston is still dark, Barry Bronson, spoke...