Because lead is critical to the machinability of many metals, the regulations could reduce machining efficiency by 25 percent or more and necessitate reformulation of metal removal fluids. Miles Free, director of industry research and technology for the Precision Machined Products Association, explained regulations on leaded metals and their potential consequences for lubricant blenders, additive suppliers and machining operations at the ILMAs 5th International Conference on Metal Removal Fluids in September in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Free explained that by reducing friction between machine tools and parts, lead enables faster machining with lower thermal stress on tools, shorter production times and lower power consumption. He estimated that after new regulations are implemented, it will be necessary to reformulate metal removal fluids for machining new alloys that are less free cutting and cut at higher temperatures than current leaded materials.

At present, European regulations on lead levels in metal alloys are specified by the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive of the European Parliament. Under RoHS, lead was declared to be a hazardous substance and forbidden from use in certain electric and electronic equipment. However, an exemption permitted the use of lead at levels up to 0.35 percent by weight in steel, 0.4 percent in aluminum and 4 percent in copper alloys.

A new Directive, RoHS 2, would limit lead to no more than 0.1 percent by weight in all metal alloys. An appeal was filed in January 2015, requesting an extension of the current exemption, and the European Parliament is expected to announce its decision by January 21, 2016. If the appeal is denied, lower limits on lead will take effect during the first half of 2017.

The pending decision may require metal removal fluid blenders and additive suppliers to reformulate their technologies to process alloys with significantly less lead, more friction at tool-part interfaces and greater thermal stresses. All within 12 to 18 months.

JASO Adopts New Diesel Wear Test

The Japanese Society of Automotive Engineers has adopted a valvetrain wear test for diesel engine oils that ends reliance on a test motor no longer in circulation and reference oils that were running out. JASOs M355 Diesel Engine Oil Standard is recommended by Japans main manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks – Hino, Mitsubishi Fuso and UD Trucks – and is widely followed throughout much of Asia as well as the Middle East and Africa.

JASO wrote the valvetrain wear test , JASO M354:2015, so that it can be run on the same engine and at the same time as a year-old piston detergency test, a cost-saving move for engine oil formulators. The wear test is one of four engine tests in JASO M355 and gages an engine oils ability to protect against wear as the engine becomes loaded with soot.

Hinos Kenji Tomizawa, chairman of the JASO Diesel Engine Oil Standard Revision Task Force, said the new test also has the advantage of catching up to air emission control standards that have tightened since the older motor was put into use. He added that developing tests that can run together is significant because oil development cost is expected to be reduced. He noted that the updates were part of a three-phase process, and the final phase is to develop a test to measure the fuel efficiency performance of an oil.

Brighter Prospects for Nigerian Base Oils

Nigeria could soon welcome the return of local base oil production, thanks to rehabilitation work at a refinery in Kaduna and efforts to reopen a port to crude oil imports. Ohi Alegbe, spokesman for Nigeria National Petroleum Corp., parent of Kaduna Refinery Petrochemical Co., said that the base oil plant would resume production contingent upon the ability to deliver crude to Kaduna.

The major challenge with the plant is that for some years now the import berth platform at Escravos has been out due to vandalism, Alegbe told LubesnGreases, referring to the berth at a Chevron terminal on the Escravos River delta. The refinery in the northern city of Kaduna receives crude via nearly 700 kilometers of pipeline starting at the Escravos berth. That is the only facility through which we can receive foreign crude…. Chevron has, however, been [told] to fix it as soon as possible.

The Kaduna refinery has Nigerias only base oil plant. In the past, its production capacity was reported at about 112,000 metric tons per year. Operations have been disrupted due to vandalism to the pipeline. At the same time, significant parts of the refinery fell into disrepair or became obsolete, so NNPC has begun an effort to repair and protect the pipelines while repairing and upgrading the refinery.

Nigerian blenders said the reopening would help the lubricant industry, but no one expects Kaduna to satisfy all of the nations base oil needs because its installed capacity is far below Nigerias demand. However, Emmanuel Ekpenyong, head of lubricants for Honeywell Oil and Gas Ltd. in Lagos, said that if the refinery produces base oil again, prices, especially for light solvent neutrals, will plummet in the long run.

Ex-Yugoslav Lube Markets Struggle

Lubricant demand in the former Yugoslavia slumped by 29 percent over the past 10 years, battered by low industrial output and recession in key markets such as Croatia and Serbia. According to Robert Mandakovic, chief lubricant market consultant for the Croatia Society for Fuels and Lubricants (Goma), both countries have seen a significant drop in lube consumption in the past decade. Serbias slumped from about 47,000 metric tons in 2004 to about 30,000 tons in 2014, while Croatias dropped from about 42,000 tons to 23,000 tons over the same period.

This market is driven by the automotive sector, Mandakovic told Gomas Lubricants and Base Oils symposium in Rovinj, Croatia, in October. Lubricant demand in the region slumped from about 145,000 tons in 2004 to about 103,000 tons in 2014 – a 30 percent drop. [The drop] means industry is weak and the economy is slow, Mandakovic added.

Goma found similar trends of low demand in neighboring parts of Central and Southeast Europe, such as Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Albeit at a slower pace, the trend of weak or stagnated lube consumption is taking place in Macedonia and Montenegro, Mandakovic said.

In 2014, regional lubricant consumption per capita was the highest in Slovenia, at around 7 kilograms of lubes consumed per capita per year. Croatia and Serbia had the next-highest rates, at almost 6 kg and 5 kg of lubes per capita per year. In Bosnia, consumption reached 4 kg, while in Macedonia and Kosovo, it was 3.5 kg and about 2 kg, respectively.

Russia Raids Motor Oil Counterfeiters

Russian police confiscated nearly 6,000 liters of counterfeit motor oil in a raid in Nizhny Novgorod as part of a bigger anticounterfeiting crackdown there. The operation was taking place at small-scale retail flea markets and stores around the city, the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the region said in an October 21 press release. Besides other counterfeit goods, we succeeded in confiscating 5,600 liters of motor oil packed in different canisters and labeled with different brands. The police filed administrative and criminal charges against the alleged perpetrators.

In another incident involving motor oil in western Russia, a freight truck carrying around 9 tons of finished lubricants fell from a bridge near Vyborg in the early hours of October 30, according to Russian interior ministry reports. The truck, transporting ExxonMobils Mobil 1 brand of engine oils, crashed through a barrier and fell 30 meters into the Saimaa Canal.

Gunvor to Take over Rotterdam Refinery

Kuwait Petroleum International and Gunvor Group reached the final stage of negotiations on the sale of the KP Europoort refinery in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The site includes an API Group I base oil plant with production capacity of 4,650 barrels per day. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and a required employee consultation process.

Gunvor Group said acquiring the Europoort refinery would enhance its existing refining operations, while also complementing its global trading activities. According to an October news release, KPI decided to sell the refinery after re-evaluating its place within the company. KPI said it set out to negotiate a sale that would keep the refinery operating while putting it in the hands of a financially solid, experienced, reliable buyer. KPI is a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corp., the state-owned energy company of Kuwait.

However, according to, a Dutch workers union official, Gunvor Group plans to shut down a crude distillation unit and Group I base oil plant after its takeover. Once they [Gunvor Group] take it over, they will close down the base oil plant, FNV trade union officer Egbert Schellenberg said in a phone interview. FNV is the Dutch Trade Union Federation.

Schellenberg explained the refinerys crude distillation unit was considered old and too expensive for Gunvor to modernize. He said the company has informed the union it plans to reduce the workforce at the refinery from 350 to 250.

A workers council will negotiate the impact on workers at the plant, Schellenberg said, including conditions for those who will lose their jobs as a result of the changes. We hope to end those discussions before the end of the year, Schellenberg said. And then sometime in January, Gunvor would close the deal and be the new owner. Gunvor Group Corporate Affairs Director Seth Thomas Peitras said, Were not commenting on the matter at the moment, since the deal has yet to be finalized, and aspects of it are under discussion.

Gulf Petrochem Launches U.A.E. Terminal

Gulf Petrochem Group inaugurated its new storage terminal in the United Arab Emirates. The terminal in Hamriyah, Sharjah, will have 203,888 cubic meters total capacity with 37 tanks ranging from 1,700 to 11,200 cubic meters each. The new terminal will be able to house all classes of petroleum products including base oil. It can also connect to other key terminals in the vicinity, the company said in a news release. It is also connected to both inner and outer harbors of Hamriyah port.

Our storage terminal business has become an integral and significant business unit for the group, Gulf Petrochem Board Member BM Bansal said at the inauguration ceremony. Complimented by our existing storage facilities in in Fujairah, U.A.E., and Pipavav, India, the new terminal will continue to enable us to service our customers within strategically located storage and trading hubs globally.