Valeros API Group I base oil plant in Paulsboro, N.J., is not going out of business, a company executive said. Valero has multiyear contract commitments to continue operating the business. Industry consultants – most recently Amy Claxton of My Energy at the early December ICIS Pan-American Base Oils & Lubricants Conference in New York – have predicted that North American Group I plants are vulnerable to closure in the coming years. Claxton concluded that Valeros 11,500 barrel pe...

Environmental Lubricants Manufacturing has spun off its metalworking fluids business to Performance BioLubes LLC, which hopes to expand the bio-based fluids market nationally and internationally. Minority shareholders in ELM formed a technology holding company that licensed ELMs bio-based metalworking fluids technology to Performance BioLubes. PBL was formed by the distributors of ELM metalworking fluid products, including former ELM metalworking fluids manager Gene Tripp. ELM chairman and co...

Craft Oil Corp. acquired lubricants distributor Total Lubrication Services and Supply LLC effective Jan. 2. The price was not disclosed. Total Lubrication Services and Supply, which distributes ExxonMobil lubricants, has its main location in Lakewood, N.J., and a second location in Blackwood, N.J. Craft Oil President Robert Mills said the combined companies have about 95 employees. Total Lubrication Services primary focus was commercial and industrial, which plays into our continued growth in th...

Solution Engineering Holdings Bhd and Universiti Putra Malaysia are working together to design and build a 4 million Malaysia Ringgits (U.S. $1.1 million) pilot plant to produce bio-based oils in Puchong, Malaysia. Construction is scheduled to start at Solution Engineerings headquarters in the first quarter of this year, according to its managing director Barry Lim, with the pilot plant expected to become operational by 2010. The product is expected to be available in the market by 2010, Lim sai...

Worldwide sales of the lubricants WD-40 and 3-in-One climbed 14.9 percent to $65.9 million for the first quarter ending Nov. 30, compared to the year-earlier period. WD-40 on Jan. 7 said net income rose 24.2 percent to $7.7 million for the quarter, compared to the same quarter a year ago. Earnings per share were 46 cents per diluted share in the first quarter, compared to 37 cents per diluted share in the same quarter a year earlier. San Diego-based WD-40s fiscal year runs from Sept. 1 to Aug. 3...

The mood of the market is still generally downbeat. A substantial number of tankers of all sizes have no employment, or are very close to becoming open in a prompt position. Owners are seeing cargoes booked within an hour of being quoted on the market, which in turn has speeded up their reaction times. They are worried they might lose out if they delay. Such a situation allows no time for them to contest rates, and we generally see most rates remaining soft. The first week or two of a new year...