The district attorneys for five California counties recently reached a $357,800 settlement in a civil suit filed against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Warren Distribution Inc., saying Wal-Mart SuperTech gear oils sold there from 2004 to 2006 failed to meet advertised viscosity levels. Wal-Mart and Warren Distribution cooperated with prosecutors during the investigation and agreed to undertake additional testing procedures in order to comply with the law. Under the settlements terms, the two companie...

Behnke Lubricants will pay a $55,055 penalty to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for violations of federal pesticide rules because of antimicrobial claims made in marketing and labeling of the companys Jax brand food-grade lubricants. The case began with a hearing in Waukesha, Wis., in March 2007, and concluded with a Chicago administrative judge ruling in favor of EPA Region 5 on Dec. 30 last year. The agency announced the ruling publicly on Thursday. We took the thing to court to try...

This month Goodyear begins offering Valvoline motor oils, transmission fluids, brake and hydraulic fluids, grease and fuel system cleaner at the chains nearly 700 company-owned stores nationwide, another successful push by the lubricant brand into the do-it-for-me market. Under the agreement, Valvoline will become the default brand for motor oil changes and other fluids used for servicing at company-owned Goodyear auto service centers and Just Tires stores. They are transitioning to it now, Good...

Indonesias energy minister inaugurated Pertaminas 130 million liter per year lubricants blending plant in Gresik, a port in the countrys East Java province. The state-owned oil and gas company expects the plant to accommodate about 40 percent of its finished lube production. Development was completed on the Gresik blending plant in November 2008, Pertamina said, after construction that began in April 2007. Purnomo Yusgiantoro, the Republic of Indonesias energy and mineral resources minister, wa...

Construction of Huntsmans and Al-Zamil Groups ethyleneamines joint venture plant in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, is on schedule and expected to finish by November, Huntsman said Jan. 28. The plant would then be on track to be fully commissioned and to begin production in the first quarter of next year. The companies formed their fifty-fifty joint venture, Arabian Amines Co., in 2006 to construct the plant using proprietary process technology from Huntsman, which will also serve as the exclusive sales ...

Some regions have registered a slight increase in the amount of new business quoted. The drivers for the change appear to be a certain amount of stock replenishment after the Christmas and Asian Lunar holidays, and an ability to work the arbitrage. The decision to idle a number of chemical plants over the past couple of months to allow demand to catch up finally appears to be paying off, with more of those plants beginning operations again, many of which are in Asia. However, if there is an upt...