BASF on Thursday said it will increase annual capacity of low molecular weight, highly reactive polyisobutene by 25,000 metric tons between now and 2010 at its Ludwigshafen, Germany, site. Marketed under the Glissopal trademark, it is an intermediate product which is used to manufacturer additives for fuels and lubricants. PIBs are used as base stocks in lubricants – sometimes as an alternative to bright stock – and as a component in metal forming fluids, gear oils, greases and two-...

MOSCOW – Individuals from several corners of Russias lubricant industry called for government intervention to help stem the loss of market share to foreign companies, during an industry conference here last month. Speakers at the Lubricants Russia 2008 conference held Nov. 12 and 13 expressed alarm over the speed at which local companies have lost market share. They suggest that the government could help in several ways – by helping to establish a testing center, to requiring foreign...

NEW YORK – While Latin America can expect its API Group I producers to be viable well past 2020, North America is braced for more Group I shutdowns – most likely Sunocos Oklahoma and Valeros New Jersey plants – an industry expert predicted earlier this month, before Sunoco’s latest announcement. Amy Claxton, principal of My Energy, a consulting firm based in Hummelstown, Pa., outlined the challenges facing Group I producers in the Americas at the ICIS Pan-American Base Oi...

ExxonMobil Chemical restarted its Beaumont, Texas, polyalphaolefin plant the week of Dec. 7, good news for blenders of premium lubricants that were already coping with a tight PAO market before the plant shut down in preparation for Hurricane Ike in September. The Beaumont PAO unit is now producing on-specification, low-viscosity and high-viscosity grades of PAO, ExxonMobil Chemical spokesman Jeff Neu told Lube Report yesterday. U.S. producers of low-vis PAOs, which typically range up to 10 cen...

Sunoco may convert its Tulsa, Okla., refinery into a terminal late next year if it cant find a buyer for it, the companys chief executive officer said during a meeting with analysts last week. The refinery includes a 9,500 barrels per day API Group I base oil plant. “We are still in discussions with interested parties on a sale, Sunoco CEO, president and director Lynn Laverty Elsenhans told analysts Dec. 15. In parallel to talking to those parties about a sale, we are looking at the possi...

On Dec. 19, the European Chemicals Agency published the list of all chemicals that have been filed with the European Union’s REACH program, representing nearly 150,000 substances (“lines”) from 65,000 companies. REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals) is designed to register, evaluate and approve all chemicals made or imported in the EU at volumes greater than 1 metric ton per year — and restrict those that pose unacceptable health or environmenta...