A third-party independent laboratory began testing motor oil samples from Shell installers in Detroit this month, part of a Shell Lubricants campaign to crack down on installers who substitute off-brand or out-of-specification lubricants for the branded products they claim to use. The product quality program went into effect in Detroit July 1 in conjunction with a local-market customer appreciation tour. Shell plans to launch the program in New York City and Dallas in a couple of weeks. We expe...

Dow Chemical recently outlined a restructuring plan calling for shutdown of several ethylene-related manufacturing assets in Louisiana, while BASF is reviewing strategic options – including restructuring, sale or closure – for 23 of the 55 former Ciba production sites worldwide it acquired. Ludwigshafen, Germany-based BASF, which completed its acquisition of Ciba last month, expects to make a decision on the 23 former Ciba production sites by the first quarter of 2010. BASF said it ...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Looking beyond gas-to-liquids, governments and private enterprises are eyeing other carbon sources of clean fuels that can also produce high quality lubricant base oils. Carbon-to-liquids activity is tied to crude prices, an industry expert noted. If crude spikes, coal-to-liquids and biomass-to-liquids will stampede. Amy Claxton, principal of consultancy My Energy in Hummelstown, Pa., described the carbons-to-liquids technologies thatwill most likelyemerge over th...

PetroCard Systems has acquired Estacada Oil and its Northwest Petroleum lubricants division, extending the ExxonMobil lube distributors reach into northern and central Oregon. Terms of the transaction, announced Monday, were not disclosed. We were looking to expand our presence in the commercial and industrial lubes world, and thats Northwest Petroleums primary focus, PetroCard CEO Steve Tolton told Lube Report. They provide hydraulic oil products to power generation at some of the dams, they p...

WD-40 on July 8 reported $6.9 million in net income for its third quarter ending May 31, down 14.6 percent compared to the year-ago period. Earnings per share were 41 cents in WD-40s third quarter, down from 49 cents per share in the year-earlier period. San Diego-based WD-40s fiscal year runs from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31. WD-40s net sales for the third quarter, ending May 31, reached $68.8 million, down 16.2 percent from 2008s third quarter. Third quarter sales in the Americas declined 15.5 percen...

Intra-European enquiries are keeping short-haul tonnage active while export opportunities continue at a mild pace. Though enquiries for Asian exports still exist, many enquiries are nothing more than that, with the exception of some recent business from the United States, where prompt space remains snug, but available. Exports from Asia simply havent been seen at the levels many would have hoped in order to lessen the large volume of available tonnage, not to mention the new builds coming out o...