On Thursday, Nov. 19, the American Petroleum Institute’s Lubricants Committee voted by conference call to issue immediately a ballot for comment on the new ILSAC GF-5 passenger car engine oil standard. The draft GF-5 specification emerged from an ILSAC/Oil Committee meeting on Nov. 18, and represents the majority position of that group, where voting was four in favor of the proposal with two abstentions. ILSAC/Oil, the group which developed GF-5, includes representatives of North American...

Valero Energy announced Friday that economic conditions and weak demand have prompted it to permanently close its fuels refinery in Delaware City, Del. The decision is not expected to affect base oil operations in nearby Paulsboro, N.J., a company official told Lube Report. Although the two refineries were once yoked to the same crude supply chain, recent changes have unlinked Paulsboro’s operations from those of its sister refinery, so it can stand on its own. Valero acquired the Delawar...

Lubricating oil seeped out of a power plant in Cambridge, Mass., early Sunday morning, forming a sheen on the Charles River and leading to a partial shut down of the plant. According to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the incident occurred about 2 a.m. when the Mirant Kendall plant shut down one of its turbine units to do some repairs. Government agencies responding to the incident included MassDEP, the EPA Boston regional office, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Cambridge...

Shell plans to close its lubricants distribution center in Laval, Canada, by the end of April 2010 in a move it claims will improve efficiency. Shell Canada Products and Pennzoil-Quaker State Canada lubricants businesses determined that customers currently served by the Laval distribution center can be served more efficiently through our Burlington regional distribution center and Brockville lubricant oil blending plant, Shell spokesman Ted Rolfvondenbaumen told Lube Report. This decision also ...

Millers Oils recently acquired Falcon Lubricants, including its waste collection and disposal business. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1985 in Malton in the United Kingdom, Falcon Lubricants specialized in supplying industrial oils and greases. In 1996, Falcon extended its operations to Benelux, France and Germany. On its web site, Falcon said company directors Bill and Liz Carven would remain involved in the business for a limited period of time after the companys Nov....

Risk of transmission fluid boiling over in heavy use and possibly causing a fire prompted Chrysler to recall more than 160,000 model year 2007 to 2008 Jeep Wranglers equipped with automatic transmissions. These vehicles were not equipped with a transmission fluid warning system, and the operation of these vehicles beyond the limits of reasonable usage over a period of time could result in transmission failure and in some cases transmission fluid expulsion, Chrysler informed the National Highway...

In a repeat performance of last week, European markets have visibly tightened. The U.S. Gulf is extremely busy into Asia, but other trade lanes from the U.S. Gulf are flat. Asian markets meanwhile are performing well, but with no great excitement. U.S. Gulf of Mexico Demand for space, particularly into China, has acted like a large sponge and soaked up all the available space. November loaders are all full, with the next set of scheduled ships only available in the second half of December. Th...