Total promises to supply Europe with new volumes of bright stock and heavy grades of base oils from its Gonfreville plant beginning in 2012 or 2013.

Totals Aidine Bagherzadeh told the European Lubricating Grease Institutes May annual general meeting in Paris that development of bright stocks and heavy neutrals production is part of our long-term strategy.

The plant currently has capacity to make 540,000 metric tons per year of base oils. The refiner will increase its production of bright stocks and heavy neutrals, and will make less light products, by changing crudes, Bagherzadeh told Lube Report. It will not be introducing any new technologies nor will it significantly increase total base oil capacity at the refinery, which is located in the Province of Normandy.

Bright stock has been in short supply in Europe and much of the world in recent years, and rising bright stock prices have reflected that tightness. According to Pumacrowns Ray Masson, bright stock traded in the range of $1,510 to $1,600 per ton in early May, basis FOB mainland Europe. A year earlier it was $1,010 to $1,020 per ton, while in early May 2009 it was $610 to $640 per ton.

Kazakhs to Join Group III Club

A planned 200,000 metric ton per year base oil plant in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, will begin producing API Groups II and III base oils in 2014.

The project is a partnership between Kazakh lubricant blender Hill Corp. and the state energy giant KazMunayGas, according to Rahimzhan Nupbayev, Hills executive director. We already signed a written statement with KazMunayGas and its subsidiary PetroKazakhstan, for supplying feed stock for the plant from the nearby refinery, he told Lube Report.

PetroKazakhstan is a joint venture between KazMunayGas and Chinese oil major PetroChina. The Shymkent fuel refinery, site of the new base oil plant, is operated by KazMunayGas.

The new base oil plant will receive around 500,000 t/y of feedstock from the refinery, to be processed into 200,000 t/y of Group II and Group III base oils, Nupbayev said. At the moment we are preparing the plants technical documentation, and the deadline when the plant is going online is 2014, he said. The plant will use Chevron Lummus technology and will be the first base oil source in Kazakhstan.

Italian JV to Build Biorefinery

Eni and Novamont formed a joint venture to invest 500 million in new facilities in Italy to produce biobased lubricants and other products.

The companies said they will design, build and manage a new biorefinery at the existing Porto Torres, Italy, petrochemical plant owned by Eni subsidiaries Polimeri Europa and Syndial.

Novara, Italy-based Novamont will provide technologies for the design, building and operation of the new facilities. Eni, based in Rome, will provide the site, infrastructure and workers.

Total Launches Fast Lubes in Europe

Total has agreed to establish a chain of quick lube centers in Europe in cooperation with Finnish tire retailer Vianor.

Total officials said the company partnered with Vianor because it has a similar strategy. Both companies are in a fast expanding phase in the region and are as such complementary to each other in developing the oil change business together in the area, Jean Louis Bonenfant, Total Refining and Marketings vice president of the Northern Europe Central Oriental & CEI region.

The agreement calls for the companies to establish quick lubes at Vianor service centers, which install tires and provide other maintenance services to passenger cars and trucks. The companies have not yet settled on a name for the quick lube operations, but some have already opened at Vianor centers in Finland and Bulgaria with others scheduled to open in coming months in Norway, Russia and Poland.

Total did not specify a target number of quick lubes but noted that Vianor has 800 outlets in 20 European countries. That number has grown by 150 in the past year, and Vianor, which is based in Nokia, Finland, plans to increase the number to 1,500 by 2015

Fuchs-Lubritech Picks Stempfel

After 40 years with ASEOL and Shell Aseol, Eduard (Eddy) M. Stempfel late last year joined Fuchs-Lubritech Food Division as global product manager and application specialist. Fuchs acquired the worldwide food-grade lubricants business of Shell International Petroleum effective 1 October, 2010. Stempfel was product application specialist and global product manager for Shells food grade lubricants prior to the acquisition. He is a member of the board of directors of the European Lubricating Grease Institute.

Rerefinery Opens in Bahrain

A Bahrainian petroleum products supplier earlier this year opened an oil rerefinery with capacity to produce 36,000 t/y of base oils. The company, Agas International, says it wants to take advantage of a dearth of oil recycling facilities in the area.

There is a lot of used lubricating oil being generated in surrounding countries, said Prem Kumar, Agas vice president of finance. But there are not enough rerefineries to handle all of (the oil). We see an opportunity to process it here rather than exporting it elsewhere.

The refinery, which opened in January, is located in Sitra, Bahrain and cost U.S. $9 million. It uses film filters to make solvent neutral 300 Group I oils.

Kumar said Agas is still developing supplier and customer bases and does not expect to reach full operating capacity for several more months. Even so, it is already exporting base oils to users as far flung as Spain, China and Taiwan, and to others in neighboring countries.

Slavneft to Add Group III

Slavneft will upgrade its base oil plant in Yaroslavl, Russia, to produce 100,000 t/y of Group III oils by early 2014.

Based in Moscow, Slavneft is a 50-50 joint venture between Russian oil companies TNK-BP and Gazpromneft. The Yaroslavl refinery includes Slavnefts only base oil plant, which currently has capacity to make 250,000 t/y of Group I oils.

The joint venture plans this year to finalize process designs and to choose a licensing company to provide technology that will be needed by the plant. Once the plant begins operating, TNK-BP and Gazprom will each have rights to half of the Group III output.

Wissol, Total Partner in Georgia

J.S.C. Wissol Petroleum Georgia signed an agreement with Frances Total to become exclusive importer of Totals automotive oils and lubricants in Georgia, and they plan to expand their business, Wissol announced. The partners opened two new Wissol Auto Express service centers in Tbilisi in June, bringing the total in Georgia to five. Wissol Chairman Samson Pkhakadze told the media they plan to open 12 to 15 service centers by the end of this year, and to have 50 centers within three years.

Sales of Total lubricants at five service centers of Wissol Auto Express are very successful, said Jean Louis Bonenfan, Totals Europe and CIS countries zone director. In my opinion we will also be very successful in the sales of marine lubricants together with Wissol.

GEO Nabs Former Cognis PAG Plant

GEO Specialty Chemicals will buy BASFs bisomer monomer business, including a former Cognis facility in England that produces polyalkylene glycols and PAG-based lubricants. Terms were not disclosed

Subject to approval by the EU Commission, the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2011. About 140 employees are expected to transfer to the new owner, GEO Specialty Chemicals UK Ltd.

BASF has agreed to purchase PAG and PAG-based lubricants manufactured at the Hythe site under a long term supply agreement with GEO.

Fuchs Reports Healthy First Quarte

Net profit for Fuchs Petrolub Group totaled 47.1 million for 2011s first quarter, up 16 percent from 40.6 million in the same period last year

Total sales revenue reached 409 million for the quarter, up 23.8 percent from sales in the year-earlier quarter.

Each of Fuchs three regions saw growth in revenues for the first quarter, compared to 2010s first quarter. In 2011s first quarter, revenue rose 22.7 percent to 249.8 million ($363.6 million) in Europe, increased 22 percent to 102.1 million in Asia-Pacific and Africa, and grew 29 percent to 68.9 million in North and South America.

Lanxess to Relocate to Cologne

Lanxess, currently based in Leverkusen, Germany, will transfer its corporate headquarters to the former Lufthansa headquarters in Cologne in the second half of 2013. More than 1,000 employees will move to the new offices in the Deutz area of the city. We have found an ideal location for Lanxess in Cologne, said Axel C. Heitmann, chairman of the board of management. The city offers a unique infrastructure with excellent transportation connections, he noted, and it is also a renowned academic and research center and thus an enormous attraction for top talent. Lanxess will lease the 22-story, 38,000 square meter building.

EU Extends Duty on Chinas Furfural

The European Council on May 4 renewed an anti-dumping duty on furfuraldehyde from China, to prevent cheaper imports of the solvent, used in base oil production, from swamping the EU market.

The council renewed the duty at 352 per metric ton. Noting that the duty was established on the basis of 1995 findings and never updated, the European Commission said it will review the number. Anti-dumping duties are paid by the importer in the EU, and collected by the national customs authorities of the EU countries involved.

In January 2010, furfural producers Lenzing AG of Austria and Tanin Sevnica kemicna industrija of Slovenia requested the review. The two account for more than 50 percent of EU production of furfural.

Rhein Chemie Expands

Annette Loos and Sebastian Foerster have joined Rhein Chemies application technology team in Mannheim, Germany, developing hydraulic packages and antiwear additives. Heike Herrmann has joined the same team to develop anticorrosion additives and yellow metal inhibitors.

Wilhelm Rehbein, with more than 22 years experience in the industry, is now also part of the team in Mannheim, focusing on development of metalworking additives. Geraldine Franck is working exclusively on Reach registrations for the lubricants division in Mannheim. Fedor Sbrodov in Moscow is sales representative for Russia and the CIS countries.