LyondellBasell swiftly switched its naphthenic base oil and white oil marketing contracts to Calumet last week when a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York Nov. 4 gave LyondellBasell permission to dump existing contracts with Nynas Naphthenics and Schumann Steier. As part of its ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, LyondellBasell had solicited bids to replace one contract to supply white mineral oil to Florida-based Schumann Steier Inc. and another contract covering base oils sold to Swede...

Petrobras on Nov. 4 agreed to acquire Chevron Chile S.A.C., including a lubricant blending plant in Santiago with 15,900 cubic meters (14,000 metric tons) per year capacity, for $12 million. In a statement provided to Lube Report, Chevron said it expects the transaction to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2009. The sale of our lubricant manufacturing operations in Chile to Petrobras is consistent with [Chevron] Global Lubricants strategy to focus its efforts and resources on markets that r...

DUBAI – The reduction of hostilities in Iraq is creating opportunities in the countrys lubricant market. It is a market that has a great deal of potential based on its size and history, an industry insider told a conference here last month. But attendees also heard that little is being done to take advantage of that potential. The lube industry in Iraq has much potential and is important to the countrys economy, Saadallah Al Fathi said after an Oct. 13 presentation at the ICIS Middle East...

Independent refiner Calumet Specialty Products improved profitability on reduced sales for the third quarter compared to a year earlier, while German lubricant supplier Fuchs Petrolubs net profit for the first nine months declined from a year ago. Calumet Specialty Products Partners L.P. Nov. 4 reported net income of $4 million for the quarter ending Sept. 30, compared to a $12.5 million net loss in 2008s third quarter. Sales revenue for the third quarter was $492.4 million, down 32 percent fro...

Europe endured a week that was even thinner than the previous one. Asia managed to stay fairly buoyant, while the Americas saw reasonable demand but a surfeit of ships. U.S. Gulf of Mexico Once again, contractual business provides the mainstay of business for owners out of the U.S. Gulf. Asian demand has been fairly impressive, especially from China with traders targeting cargoes of styrene, acrylonitrile and benzene/toluene/xylene. There are limited amounts of November space available among the...