JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Some U.S. API Group I refineries are here to stay, but when a catastrophe happens – when you face unexpected capital needs – you shut it down, Valeros Terry Hoffman told the ICIS Conference here last week. Some Group I plants will definitely go away. Its just a question of when will the event occur that will make it happen, Hoffman, director of base oil and process oil sales with Valero Marketing and Supply, told the ICIS Pan-American Base Oils & Lubri...

Univar has signed a long-term distribution agreement with Shell Group affiliates in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden to market, sell and distribute Shell branded lubricants in those four countries. About 110 Shell employees are expected to transfer to Univar as part of the business transfer announced Monday. The arrangement is in the approval process with regulatory authorities, and is expected to become effective in 2010s second quarter. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. ...

With fewer consumers buying new vehicles and more keeping their vehicles on the road longer, motor oil marketers can best succeed by differentiating their products – either by low price or value-added attributes, an NPD analyst said, discussing results of an annual consumer survey of vehicle owners. If Im not clearly differentiated around either of those two, I think that becomes much less compelling to the consumer, David Portalatin, industry analyst for NPDs Houston-based automotive uni...

Lubricant output volumes in Russia have declined even more steeply this year, fueled by the recession and a drop in demand, a Russian research center said. Russias total lubricants production volume in 2008 dropped by 3.1 percent compared to 2007s total, according to Kortes, a Moscow-based research center. Lubricants production in Russia through the first three quarters this year declined 14 percent, compared to the equivalent period last year. Basically, production decline for 2009 is due to t...

Total Lubricants Canada has acquired Ultramars lubricants business, and Total branded lubricants will be sold throughout the Ultramar network through a partnership announced Monday. Montreal-based Ultramars company-operated stations will offer Total lubricants to their customers while Ultramar will also recommend Total lubricants to its business partners. The price of the lubricants business acquisition was not disclosed. Olivier Goutal, president of Total Lubricants Canada, said Total sought ...

The United Kingdoms Health and Safety Executive fined a bearings manufacturer 20,000 ($33,000) for exposing its workers to metalworking fluid mist over a six month period during 2007 and 2008. Koyo Bearings (Europe) Ltd. of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, on Nov. 30 pled guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act, the agency said. In addition to the fine, Koyo was ordered to pay costs of 15,280 ($25,000) at Barnsley Magistrates Court. The court further ordered Koyo Bearing...

European markets are performing well, with good levels of demand seen. U.S. contractual demand is solid, whereas spot requirements are less evident. Asia is busy in all segments. U.S. Gulf of Mexico On the whole, the United States is quite active, but the main focus seems to be on moving contractual volumes more than flooding the market with spot demand. In some ways, that is fortunate as apart from a handful of ships that are able to offer for cargoes in any direction, space tends to be limit...