OSTFILDERN, Germany – Globalization is changing lubricant and lubricant additive markets around the world, breaking down boundaries and diminishing differences. But this phenomenon will have its limits, according to an Evonik RohMax Additives executive, who predicted that significant differences in lube additive demand will remain, due to variations in equipment usage and other regional idiosyncracies. It is tempting to assume that lubricant additive consumption patterns throughout the wor...

Chemtura Corp. on Friday announced it had agreed to sell its global oleochemicals business to PMC Group NA Inc. for an undisclosed amount, subject to financing and other conditions. Chemtura said it will use proceeds from the sale – which includes Chemturas production facility in Memphis, Tenn. – primarily for debt reduction. PMC Group plans to offer jobs to all the oleochemicals business employees. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter. The oleochemica...

Financial results for the quarter ending Dec. 31 show increased sales and operating income at lubricant blender Valvoline, and a steep rise in sales but a decline in operating profit for the lubricant division of South Korean base oil refiner SK Energy, compared to the year-ago quarter. At the SK lubricant division, bothsales and operating profits for the fullyearrose, compared to2006. Valvoline parent company Ashland said the lube blender reported operating income of $20.1 million for the three...

OAO LukOil recently entered a 5-year strategic cooperation agreement with Russian automaker OAO Severstal-Auto. The deal calls for LukOil to supply automotive lubricants for factory fill and industrial lubricants for Severstal-Autos production plants. Moscow-based Severstal-Auto holds controlling blocks of shares of OAO Ulyanovsk Automobile Works, OAO Zavolzhye Motor Works and OAO ZMA. Ulyanovsk manufactures four-wheel-drive vehicles – including the Japanese Isuzu brand – such as off...

Master Chemical (Shanghai) Co. is constructing a second metalworking fluids manufacturing plant in China, in northernTianjin, to meet growing demand. The company is part of Perrysburg, Ohio-based Master Chemical Corp. The building will be 50,000 square feet in size, and employ 12 people when it begins operation in August, Master Chemical spokesman Mark Scherer told Lube Report. The company broke ground on the project in November.Master Chemicalopened a 20,000 square foot manufacturing and servic...

Warren Oil Co. last week announced the addition of Spencer Oil Co. to its network of Coastal Lubricant distributors. On Jan. 11, Spencer Oil Co. signed and returned to Warren Oil a contract to represent the Coastal brand of lubricants in eastern Michigan and the northwest corner of Ohio. Roseville, Mich.-based Spencer Oil Co. has been in the lubricants business in eastern Michigan for more than 30 years. Spencer will market and distribute the full line of Coastal lubricants from Bay City south t...