Ciba yesterday said it will soon begin producing antioxidants for lubricants and fuels at its newly commissioned facility in Singapores Jurong Island, enabling it to respond faster to the Asian markets needs and growing requirements. Production of Ciba Irganox L135 will begin in early 2009 followed by a strategic review of other products that could be manufactured in Singapore, said Douglas Brown, head of Cibas process and lubricant additives business line. The company sells its antioxidants for...

NEW YORK – Asias taste for eco cars that go at least 65 miles on a gallon of fuel, the intimate relationship between diesel fuel pricing and API Group III availability, and the growth of high quality base stock supply in the Straits of Melaka are three key factors driving the Asian base oil market, a Petronas executive said. Abu Hanzalah Abu Bakar, base oil sales and marketing manager for Malaysian national oil company Petronas, provided an overview of Asias base oil market at the ICIS Pan...

Northland Products has made an opening investment of $2.5 million in a new lubricating oil and engine coolant manufacturing and distribution center in Temple, Texas that will include at least 20,000 square feet on a 10.5 acre site. This is the initial phase of the project, and that was only the initial commitment that we made to Temple on what we would do, Eric Petersen, Northlands executive vice president and chief operating officer, told Lube Report. We would anticipate that it will advance s...

A fire lasting more than four hours Sunday afternoon engulfed a 7,000 square foot building in Zionsville, Ind., used by distributor Taylor Oil Co. to store petroleum products that included waste oil and lubricants. It was waste oil for our furnaces that we heat the warehouses with, that was the big fuel for the fire, Taylor Oils Nancy Thayer told Lube Report. There was a tank wagon that had some diesel and gas on it, not a big quantity. There were also four totes with lubricants in them. Thaye...

Dow Chemicals recently announced plans to streamline operations and cut costs will include some restructuring early next year at its Dow Biocides and Angus Chemical business, along with slowing of production at some manufacturing facilities, company officials said. Nanette Hermsen, global market manager for Dow Biocides, and Tina Frattaroli, global market manager for Angus Chemical Co., stated that at this time, both Dow businesses remain committed to the metalworking fluid market and their part...

Valvoline Lubricants advertising in recent months, both in online and print media, claiming its SynPower SAE 5W-30 motor oil offers four times better wear protection than Mobil 1 5W-30 has become a sore spot between it and ExxonMobil. A Nov. 20 letter by Valvoline technical director Thomas Smith to its customers and marketers reiterated that claim, and then stirred the pot further by saying testing with an independent laboratory indicated Mobil 1 5W-30 does not meet minimum API SM or ILSAC GF-4 ...