A U.S. distributor was bilked out of motor oils valued at nearly $100,000, shipped to a Canadian warehouse, when the Montreal buyer declined to pay and then virtually disappeared. Canadian police are on the case, and warn that similar cross-border commodity scams are on the rise in Montreal. The U.S. distributor received a phone solicitation in late July from a woman claiming to be Sylvain Prima, president of Power Brand Solutions, a lubricants distributor in Montreal. The U.S. distributor does...

Royal Dutch Shell said Friday that its efforts to sell two German refineries and a third in the United Kingdom have narrowed and that it is now negotiating with a single potential buyer, Indian conglomerate Essar. Two of the refineries have base oils plants – one in Harburg, Germany, the other in Stanlow, U.K. Shells statement noted that the discussions with Essar have no timetable and that there is no guarantee they will result in a sale. Essar Group, which is based in Mumbai, has opera...

Lubrizols additives segment and Ashlands Valvoline division reported lower sales but hefty increases in operating income for the quarter ending Sept. 30, while the lubricant division at SK Energy saw a decline in both, compared to the year-ago quarter. Lubrizol Lubrizols additives segment on Thursday reported operating income of $256.5 million for the third quarter, up 151.2 percent from $102.1 million in 2008s third quarter. Additives and advanced materials generated very strong results in th...

Saudi Arabias Petromin Corp. has announced a new 100 million riyals (U.S. $26.7 million), 250,000 metric tons per year capacity blending plant, which is expected to go on stream in the second quarter of 2010. Consolidation of production facilities and modernization is the main reason for building the plant on 55,000 square meters of land at the Saudi Aramco Industrial Zone in Jeddah, said Sajid Saeed, Petromin executive vice president. In 1970 Petromin built a blending plant in Jeddah, eventual...

DUBAI – Despite international trade sanctions on Iran, the lubes market in the country remains substantial and ripe for development. With growth in gross domestic product expected to average 8 percent a year, there is likely to be a direct impact on new vehicle demand. Vehicle demand reached 1.14 million in 2008, and is growing at a yearly average of 3.38 percent, according to a presentation by Behran Oils Madjid Safdari at the 6th ICIS Middle Eastern Base Oils and Lubricants conference h...

Contractual business from the Americas is beginning to increase for the balance of the year, although spot volumes remain depressed. Europe is totally flat with multiple ships open in every sector. Asian domestic markets are slowly seeing some growth, but rates tend to be unchanged. U.S. Gulf of Mexico Main routes such as U.S. Gulf to Asia and U.S. Gulf to South America have registered an increase in contractual demand, mostly inspired by the seasonal need to have material out of storage by ye...