Milacron has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States and Canada, part of a restructuring in which two current investors would boost Milacron with $40 million in new funds and later purchase all of its assets. The bankruptcy process will still require Milacron to sell its assets to the highest bidder. Milacrons Industrial Fluids segment supplies metalworking and industrial fluids. The companys larger business supplies plastics-processing technologies. Yesterdays bankruptcy...

Royal Dutch Shell confirmedMarch 12that its base oil plant in Harburg, Germany, is for sale along with the surrounding refinery, contrary to an article that appeared in the first edition of this March 11 issue of Lube Report. Shell management told employees earlier this month that it is trying to sell two refineries – one in the Hamburg borough of Harburg, the other in Heider, Germany. If the company does not find a buyer within a few months it could close the refineries or convert them f...

Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express topped all the oil change lists with 2,515 total U.S. stores, bypassing Jiffy Lubes 1,999 outlets and reflecting the growing number of companies adding quick oil changes to their services, according to the National Oil & Lube News 2009 Tops in the Industry Ranking. NOLN published its annual lists of the largest fast lube chains and other oil change providers in its March 2009 issue. NOLN classifies Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express as an oil change-plus sh...

Dow described its acquisition of Rohm and Haas as an $18.8 billion transaction which resolved Rohm and Haas litigation against Dow and makes Dow the largest specialty chemicals company in the United States. Dow Chemical of Midland, Mich., yesterday agreed to pay $78 per share in cash plus fees for Rohm and Haas, based in Philadelphia, Pa. Dow predicts annual savings of at least $800 million from increased purchasing power, manufacturing and supply chain improvements, and elimination of redundan...

LONDON – The European Unions new Waste Directive strongly favors rerefining used oil over burning for energy recovery, and as a result, rerefined base oils could meet nearly a quarter of Europes base oil demand by 2020. Christian Hartmann, chief executive officer of rerefiner Puralube Holding GmbH based in Munich, Germany, described the impact on the European lubricant market of the EU Waste Directive, at the ICIS World Base Oils & Lubricants Conference here on Feb. 20. While the Eu...

Coastal Blending and Packaging will distribute Commonwealth Oils metalworking fluids, electric discharge machining products, and food grade lubricants and cleaners in Eastern Canada under an agreement announced March 5. Under the agreement, Commonwealth’s products will retain their branding and also have the Irving Oil name on them. Irving Oil is the parent company of Coastal Blending and Packaging. Fred Herdman, president and founder of Commonwealth Oil, said the agreement will expand ...

Dow Chemical and Oxea each announced price hikes last week for a variety of solvents. Midland, Mich.-based Dow announced March 3 it would raise prices in North America for products in its oxygenated solvents portfolio by 4 cents to 5 cents per pound effective April 1, or as contracts allow, to address continued escalation in raw material costs. The recent escalation in hydrocarbon costs has caused the gap between price and cost to narrow significantly, said Martin Sutcliffe, Dows global busine...

Cargoes continue to flow into Asia from the United States and Europe, and the transatlantic routes remain buoyant, but elsewhere it has been a steady if uninspiring week. In Asia, the list of open ships grows longer and longer, and we see freights from this region continuing to soften. U.S. Gulf of Mexico Freights have increased on nearly all the key trade lanes out of the Gulf due to a jump in demand for vessel space. In spite of the slowdown in biodiesel business, which has not yet fully disa...