After failing to find a buyer, Royal Dutch Shell decided in January to close its Hamburg, Germany, oil refinery, but the company said it will continue trying to sell its associated base oil plant in Harburg.

The base oil plant, separated from the refinery by the Elbe River, has capacity to make 170,000 metric tons per year of paraffinic base oils and 150,000 t/y of naphthenic base oils. At least one industry observer said the company stands a good chance of finding a buyer.

The Harburg plant has a number of hydrotreaters that could be of value to base oil producers who need to make something other than commodity base oils, said Stephen Ames of SBA Consulting in Pepper Pike, Ohio, U.S. As an example, he cited H&R Wasag, a white oils and specialty chemicals supplier which operates base oil plants in Hamburg and Salzbergen, Germany.The Harburg [base oil] plant is already separate from the main part of the refinery … so its not like they would have to carve out an operation from within the middle of the refinery, Ames added. It would actually be pretty neat and clean.The Hamburg refinery had been for sale for well over a year, along with others in Heide, Germany, and in Stanlow, U.K. Investment firm Klesch and Co. agreed in August to buy the Heide facility. Shell now plans to convert Hamburg to a storage terminal by the second quarter of 2011. In announcing those plans, the company said it would take the Stanlow refinery off the market if it did not identify a buyer by the end of February. In that case it would continue operating that refinery, which includes an API Group I paraffinic base oil plant.

Indian conglomerate Essar said it was still in discussions to buy the Stanlow refinery. Shell said it was talking to multiple potential buyers.

Axel Christiernsson Buys U.S. Plant

Swedish grease maker Axel Christiernsson in January acquired U.S. grease manufacturer Jesco Resources, which will operate as Axel Americas LLC. The price was not disclosed.

Axel Group CEO Johan Stureson was named president of Axel Americas, while Jescos previous owner and president Richard Howell stayed on as executive vice president. Stureson said the two companies know each other well, and that both will benefit from the acquisition. Each manufactures private label greases for a wide variety of applications in the industrial and automotive segments.

The first thing theyre bringing is manufacturing capacity on the ground in the United States, which Axel as a company in Europe did not have in the past, Stureson told Lube Report. Secondly, there are obviously some product technologies which Jesco will have, which we dont have. We can combine that with something else which Axel will have in Europe, for the best of both parties on either side of the Atlantic.

Axel Christiernsson has been exporting some material to the United States, primarily specialty products manufactured in Europe, according to Stureson.

We believe there will be more of that for the business going forward, he said. We have a number of large, prestigious customers which we service in Europe which obviously have a significant presence in the United States. Some of them are even based in the United States. So we can help to service them in a much better way for the future.

Founded in 1929, Jesco Resources had 41 employees at facilities in Kansas City, Missouri, and Rosedale, Mississippi.

EC to BASF: Divest PAG

The European Commission told BASF in December that it must divest a Cognis polyalkylene glycol plant in Hythe, England, in order to gain approval for its acquisition of Cognis. BASF agreed to comply with the ruling, which allowed it to close on the 3.1 billion transaction.

Prior to the deal, BASF had two plants making PAGs and Cognis had three. The EC concluded that the merger would give BASF too much control of PAG supply unless it divested the Hythe plant. It ordered the company to sell the facility and gave directions aimed at helping Hythe become a viable business.

BASF must grant the buyer know-how for the production of PAGs and must also agree to buy the plants output for an interim period until it builds up a customer base.

BASF also agreed to appoint an independent manager who will operate the Hythe plant separately from the German chemical giant until it is sold. The plant employs approximately 150 people.

Fuchs Thinks Big in India

Fuchs Petrolub in December outlined expansion plans in India including a new blending plant on the outskirts of Mumbai. The facility, located in Ambernath was built for 400 million Indian rupees (6.4 million), and was preparing to launch at the time of the companys announcement. A second phase of construction, priced at Rs. 100 million, is scheduled to begin this year.

The Mannheim, Germany-based lubricant marketer said the project is part of a strategy to triple its sales in India to Rs. 2 billion within three years. Fuchs said it will target markets for both high-end niche products and general lubricants. It aims to get well entrenched in Indias fast growing automotive sector as a first fill lubricants supplier.

We see a huge growth potential for Fuchs Lubricants in India and as part of our expansion plan, we have set up the Ambernath plant to cater to a wide range of sectors, stated Fuchs Petrolub AG Germany chairman Stefan Fuchs. The plants features include its own waste water recycling plant and stringent pollution control systems. The facility will manufacture a wide range of environmentally friendly Fuchs products, to be marketed under the Planto and Eco brand names.

Lube Blast Kills Two

Two workers were killed when a 200- liter tank of engine oil exploded in a motor depot in Nizhniy Novgorod on 27 January, the Russian state agency Itar-Tass reported.

The incident occurred in the Stroigaz construction companys yard, the Russian emergency situations ministrys local department told the agency.

The blast occurred when a fork lift operator and a truck driver were transferring the engine oil to smaller containers using a hose connected to a truck tanker loaded with 4.5 tons of motor oil.

The emergency department sent 17 rescuers and firefighters with five emergency vehicles to extinguish the flames occurred after the blast. The explosion didnt harm the oil tanker or the nearby motor depot facilities.

Neste Restructures Renewables

Neste Oil said in December that is has merged its renewable fuels division into its Oil Products business. Matti Lehmus, who had been executive vice president of oil products now holds the same title overseeing the Oil Products and Renewable Fuels business.

Neste recently opened a renewable diesel plant in Singapore and plans to open a second in Rotterdam this year. With those facilities coming online the company said its renewable fuels activities will shift toward a normal business model and that it wanted to give customers a single point of contact.

Like the old Oil Products business, the merged division includes Nestes Group III base oil plant in Porvoo, Finland, and its shares in joint ventures that are building Group III plants in Bahrain and United Arab Emirates.

Sea-Land Sails to Europe

U.S.-based Sea-Land Chemical formed a European subsidiary to distribute chemicals to the lubricants, cleaning and coatings markets. Sea-Land Chemical Europe is based in the United Kingdom, and is headed by Robert Stubbs. Stubbs was technical director for metalworking fluids supplier Polartech until it was acquired by Afton Chemical last year.

Sea-Land, which is headquartered in Westlake, Ohio, U.S., said it considers this a good time to enter the European market.

We see Europe, as the U.S. is, coming out of a slowdown in business, President Joseph Clayton said in a written statement. There has also been a consolidation of suppliers over the last couple of years.The subsidiary currently has no facilities, but Sea-Land said it plans over the next few years to develop a network of warehouses in Europe similar to what it currently operates in the U.S. and Canada.

Gosalia Named to New Post

Apu Gosalia has been named to the newly created position of chief sustainability officer at Fuchs Petrolub Group, responsible for advising on sustainable economic activities at the German company and its global subsidiaries.

He also continues as head of global strategic marketing for the Mannheim, Germany, company. Gosalia has been with Fuchs for 12 years.