SK Energy plans to spin off its lubricant business, according to a South Korean Yonhap News Agency report cited by Bloomberg on Friday. Yonhap, quoting an unidentified company official, stated that SK Energy will maintain management control over the new unit while selling part of it, Bloomberg said. SK Energy officials yesterday declined to comment on the report. The Seoul-based company operates a base oil plant in Ulsan, South Korea, with 17,000 barrels per day of API Group III and 4,000 b/d ...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Expect 2009 to be a really tough year for the base oil business, an industry pundit predicts, with the global recession pulling down demand by 5 to 10 percent from 2008 levels and more than 2 million metric tons per year of new capacity coming on stream. One result? More pressure to close the least competitive API Group I refineries. Global demand for base oils is expected to decline sharply near term, Stephen Ames, principal of SBA Consulting, Pepper Point, Ohio,...

Total reported grease production worldwide reached 2.25 billion pounds (1 billion kilograms) in 2008, and was 2.3 billion pounds in 2007, according to the latest grease production survey from NLGI International. Lithium greases continued to dominate worldwide, accounting for 73 percent of the total. Lithium soap grease production in 2008 totaled 1.6 billion pounds. Calcium soap production totaled 249.9 million pounds or 11 percent, aluminum soap reached 90.1 million pounds or 4 percent, and poly...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Australia is a big country with a small population and a taste for high-quality lubricants, where most base oils and a growing share of finished lubes are now imported. Wayne Petersen, business development manager with Melbourne-based Hilditch Pty Ltd., an independent international trading company, provided a rare overview of Australias lubricants and base oil markets at the ICIS Asian Base Oils & Lubricants Conference here on June 24. The key factors driving...

Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc. is targeting five different regions in the Philippines as part of an expansion program for its automotive and industrial lubricant products. The company is a licensed blender and distributor of Japanese lubricant manufacturer Idemitsus lubricants. Unioil operates a blending plant in Valenzuela, north of Manila, in the northern end of the country. The expansion targets areas that include the Southern Tagalog region, Bicol, Northern Luzon, Western Visayas and Mi...

Kraton Polymers announced upcoming price increases for polymers used in lubricants, while Arkema and Oxea have upped prices for solvents and oxygenated solvents. Houston-based Kraton Polymers on July 1 said it would raise prices no later than Aug. 1 for its SBS, SEBS, OE SBS and OE SEBS polymers and compounds by $330 per metric ton, or 15 cents per pound, in the Americas; by 200 (U.S. $280) per metric ton in Europe, Africa and the Middle East; and by U.S. $330 per metric ton in Asia Pacific. Th...

European markets have been boosted by a steady stream of new intra-European enquiries. Asian export enquiries have begun to trickle in too, which will help to move the surplus of tonnage in Asia and send it back where it is needed. One place that could most use an injection of additional tonnage is the United States, where prompt space is still remarkably tight. U.S. Gulf of Mexico There will be more ships open in the U.S. Gulf in July, but only towards the end of the month. That does leave a l...