Neste officials said they still hope to revive Nynas, a 50-50 partnership with Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., but the write-down means the company no longer estimates its stake in Nynas to have any value.

Officials noted that Nynas had been hurt by United States economic sanctions aimed at isolating the government of Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro. In an earnings report filed Oct. 23, Neste said Nynas lost 8 million (U.S. $8.9 million) during the third quarter because the sanctions impair its ability to acquire crude oil feedstock.

Nynas owns naphthenic base oil plants in Harburg, Germany, and Nynashamn, Sweden. It also produces bitumen and owns a third refinery in Gothenburg, Sweden, and a joint venture facility with Shell in Eastham in the United Kingdom.

Making naphthenic base stocks requires naphthenic crude, and Nynas has traditionally bought much of its feedstock from PdVSA. The U.S. sanctions against Venezuela bar such purchases, but Nynas had operated under a series of licenses allowing it to buy crude from Venezuela. On Oct. 17, the U.S. Treasury Department modified an exemption that allowed Nynas to buy oil or oil products from Venezuela, leading Nynas to cease purchases of PdVSA crude, according to Neste.

Kenya Urged to Cut Base Oil Import Duties

Ola Energy urged the Kenyan government to lower its import duties on base oils and lubricant additives to allow blenders in the country to be more competitive in the regional market.

The lubricant company, formerly known as OiLibya, said Kenya charges a 10 percent duty on such products while other countries in the region may charge duties on finished lubes but not raw materials.

It has been very difficult and expensive to export lubricants to other countries … due to stiff competition from other countries, namely Egypt, India, United Arab Emirates and South Africa, who benefit from duty free manufacturing and other subsidies, Ola Energy CEO Mazin Binramadan said in a press release.

If base oils and additives are made duty free, Kenya will become more competitive in domestic markets and subsequently reduce the incentive for smuggling products into the country, he continued.

Managing director of Ola Energy Kenya Millicent Onyonyi echoed the sentiments of Binramadan, adding that the removal of the duty on base oils and additives will help other sectors of the economy as lubricants are intermediate products in transportation, construction and manufacturing industries.

Ola Energy operates a lubricant blending plant in Mombasa, Kenya, and is a petroleum distributor and marketer and operates retail stores.

Lubrizol Plant Reopening Still Uncertain After Fire

More than a month after fire ripped through two Lubrizol Corp. warehouses in Rouen, France, the company was still working to reopen its manufacturing facility there. The company said it could not give a date when the facility would resume operations until the Prefect of Seine-Maritime – the regional office of the central government – gave it the green light to do so. The prefecture did not respond to a request for information by the time of writing. However, it did report that removal had started of lubricant additives drums that were damaged during the fire, a process which could take several days to complete.

A document published by a local government agency indicated that approximately 5,253 metric tons of lubricant additives were stored in the two warehouses that caught fire. Many of the products were highly toxic, combustible compounds, including polycyclic hydrocarbons, chlorinated solvents, benzene solvents, dioxins and furans, phthalates and polychlorinated biphenyls.

During the days following the fire, some of Rouens residents reported sore throats, eye irritation and shortness of breath. The local government said air, water and food contamination tests showed no serious threat to health.

Alicia Gauer, Lubrizols director of global communications, issued an apology to the Rouen community on behalf of the company, saying that it was sorry for the irritation and concern caused by the fires smoke. She also said Lubrizol is supporting additional testing and monitoring in an attempt to ease the minds of concerned Rouen residents.

Master Fluid Acquires Wilhelm Dietz

Master Fluid Solutions announced its acquisition of German metalworking fluids manufacturer Wilhelm Dietz GmbH, saying it will enable products that it sells in Europe to be made in-house instead of through toll partners. Terms were not disclosed.

Perrysburg, Ohio-based Master Fluids is primarily a metalworking fluids manufacturer with production facilities in the U.S., the U.K., China, India and Thailand. Wilhem Dietz primarily makes fluids for pipe and tube expansion, cold forming and other metalworking applications under its Wedolit brand name.

The German companys manufacturing facility is in a prime location to serve all of Europes industrial manufacturing centers with Germany, U.K., France and Italy as our focus markets, Tahir said.

The Wedolit brand has an extensive range of products for the metalworking industry in forming, pipe and tube expansion, rust and corrosion control, wire drawing, cutting and grinding operations, according to Tahir. They offer a complementary portfolio to Masters for pipe and tube expansion, rust and corrosion control, forming and wire drawing, he said.

Doing Deals

Bahrain Petroleum Co. signed an agreement appointing Shell Trading and Shipping Co. as the exclusive distributor in Europe and the Americas of Bapcos API Group III base oils. Under the deal, Shell Trading will market Bapbase-branded base oils in 4, 6 and 8 centistoke oils produced at Bapcos joint venture Sitra refinery in Bahrain. A Bapco official announced the deal in September at the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association annual meeting in Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S.

Luxembourg-based Azelis, which distributes specialty chemicals and food ingredients, signed an agreement to acquire Orkila, a Lebanese distributor of specialty chemicals and food ingredients throughout Africa and the Middle East. Among other products, Orkila offers corrosion inhibitors and surfactants for the oilfield services sector and catalysts for a range of applications focused on the refining and petrochemical industries, including lube oils and wax.

Fuchs Petrolub S.E. will acquire Fairhaven, Massachusetts-based Nye Lubricants Inc. The acquisition will enable Fuchs to further expand its specialty lubricants product portfolio, the company said in a press release. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year, after which the business will continue to be operated out of Nyes Massachusetts location.

Motul Deutschland GmbH announced that it is set to become motorcycle manufacturer Kawasaki Germanys new lubricant partner, effective Jan. 1, 2020.

On Site

Officials at Neste Corp. said base oil production at the companys refinery in Porvoo, Finland, was not affected by a major disruption in the companys internet technology systems. Neste reported that the problem interrupted activities in Finland and the Baltic region, but a spokesperson later said that production at the API
Group III base oil plant in Porvoo would continue normally. The company said the problem stemmed from a hardware failure in service providers data center.

Sogis Chemical Co. contracted NextChem to build a plant to make oleic acid from residual fats. Oleic acid is an intermediate used for the production of biobased lubricants. NextChem will provide the engineering, procurement and construction services for a line with capacity to produce 22,000 tons per year. The facility will be incorporated into existing Sogis operations in the municipality of Sospiro, in the province of Cremona, northern Italy.

Greif, an American manufacturer of industrial packaging, expanded its operations in Russia with a second intermediate bulk container production plant to serve lubricants industry customers in the region, the company said.

Rerefining Association Hits Half Century

The European Rerefining Industry Group, or GEIR, celebrated its 50th anniversary at the Union of European Lubricants Industrys annual congress in Cannes in October. The Brussels-based association represents Europes referining industry and contributes to European Union policy and legislation.

GEIR promotes waste oil collection and regeneration and is pressing for a bloc-wide regeneration target of 85 percent of collected waste oil to base oil, which could result in 1.1 million tons of regenerated base oil, representing 30 percent of the total European base oil market, GEIR said in a press release.