Shell Canada Products last month said it has decided to convert its Montreal East Refinery into a receiving terminal for gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels. The refinery, with 130,000 barrels a day of crude capacity, includes a 2,700 b/d API Group I base oil unit. The company said it has not set a final date for shutting down the refining and base oil operations there, nor whether the terminal would handle base oils. It said it would keep employees, government officials and other stakeholders informed during the conversion process, and for the time being, it remains business as usual for the refinery operations.

Shell said the 75-year-old refinery no longer fit its long-term strategy. It had tried to sell the refinery, shopping it to specific buyers, but was unable to do so. Montreal East is one of six refineries the company put on the block last year, in an effort to reduce its refining footprint. Two of the others, in Harburg, Germany, and Stanlow, U.K., also produce base oils.

API Warns 18 on Quality

The American Petroleum Institute last year alerted 18 engine oil marketers of possible quality issues with their products, based on preliminary testing of 120 bulk oil samples.

APIs Aftermarket Audit Program checks yearly on the quality of licensed engine oils sold at retail worldwide. As of Nov. 5, its auditors had collected 133 bulk and 159 packaged samples for testing in the 2009 program. While awaiting final test results on these samples, API sent out alerts on apparent quality problems so they can be dealt with immediately.

Alerts result from quick tests run within days of collecting a bulk sample, engine oil licensing manager Kevin Ferrick told the e-newsletter Lube Report. These quick tests are P&C [physical and chemical] tests intended to give us a first look at a bulk oil. If we find a discrepancy, we send a note to the licensee for their information.

Ferrick emphasized that the alert is not considered the actual audit finding. The quick tests are essentially a subset of the tests we run on an oil. The official findings are not presented until we receive the final test report from our audit lab, expected later this year.

The 2008 final audit found significant quality problems in 20, or 3.75 percent, of the 534 total samples tested.

Rerefinery to Make Fuels…

Winnipeg-based HD-Petroleum plans to launch a Can. $1.4 million (U.S. $1.3 million) rerefinery in Montcalm, Manitoba, next June that will process used motor oil into 1.2 million liters a year of low-sulfur diesel fuel. Todd Habicht, president and general manager, said his company considered producing base oils, but decided against competing at this time with Safety-Kleen and Newalta, who operate base oil rerefineries in Ontario and British Columbia, respectively.

Essentially, it was just an economic decision, Habicht said. At this point, reclaiming the hydrocarbon and converting it into a diesel fuel product was something that was economically feasible for us to do. HD has agreements with waste oil collectors, primarily in western Canada, to provide the used oil, he added, and Canadas Community Adjustment Fund will cover about one-third of the projects costs.

…As Rival Cleans Up in Toronto The Toronto

Transit Commission has awarded Safety-Kleen Canada a three-year contract to recover and rerefine 600,000 liters (U.S. 159,000 gallons) per year of used lubricants generated by the commissions fleet. Safety-Kleens rerefinery in Breslau, Ontario, has input capacity for up to 2,500 barrels per day of waste oil, and can make both API Group I and Group II base stocks.

SC Merges with United Fuel

United Fuel & Energy on Dec. 30 outlined a merger with Southern Counties Oil Co. (known as SC Fuels). Under the agreement, SC subsidiary Goldstream will make a tender offer to buy all outstanding shares of United Fuels common stock not already owned by SC Fuels and its affiliates for 30 cents per share. Following the offers completion, United Fuel will be merged into Goldstream.

United Fuel distributes lubricants and fuels primarily in Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma. It represents the consolidation of numerous companies, including lubricants and fuel distributor Reamax Oil Co., the Eddins-Walcher Co. and Cardlock Fuels System. SC Fuels distributes petroleum products, including lubricants and heating oils, throughout the western United States.

Zep Snaps Up Amrep

Specialty chemical products supplier Zep has acquired privately held Amrep for about $64.4 million in cash. Marietta, Ga.-based Amreps products include penetrants and lubricants, industrial greases, and a variety of specialty oils, including hydraulic, chain, cable and rope oils. Amrep now is a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlanta, Ga.-based Zep, and operates as its ninth division. The acquisition, said Zep, allows it to expand in a number of markets, including the U.S.-based Asian OEM market, which it considers a significant growth opportunity.

Briefly Noted

Polaris Laboratories in Edmonton, Alberta, says it has been exceeding both performance and growth targets, processing three times the sample volume it was seeing at the end of 2008. The 4,000-sq.-ft. laboratory recently added a second shift, to accommodate the increase in demand for its oil and coolant analysis services, from oil and gas, mining, construction and transportation industries…

To support its business in marine oils and deep-draft-vessel lubricants, Maxum Petroleum has agreed to charter two new 10,000-barrel tank barges from Global Marine Transportation. The OPA compliant barges are being built now for delivery this summer, and will go into service on the West Coast. Maxum also signed an option to charter two additional barges in the second half of the year…

Fluid cleaning specialists Oil Purification Systems is partnering with Lubri-Tech S.A., a subsidiary of B&R Group, to market OPS products in Latin America, beginning with the Dominican Republic. Lubri-Techs Ramon Mella noted that oil is even more expensive in the Dominican Republic than in the U.S., making it an ideal market for OPS expertise in fluid analysis.

Faces in the News

After 29 years with Dow Chemical, Pamela R. Butcher has joined Pilot Chemical in Cincinnati as president and chief operating officer. She reports to Chairman and CEO Paul Morrisroe, and is responsible for supervision and direction of all company functions and operations.

Naphthenics heavy-weight Ergon Inc. appointed Craig Busbea as vice president, Petroleum Specialties Marketing Division, for North and South America. A chemical engineer who has been with Ergon for 23 years, hell direct the marketing of process, base and electric oils from the Vicksburg, Miss., and Newell, W.Va., refineries. Busbea took over the position from Mike Burnett, who took leave of the Jackson, Miss.-based company in December after a career spanning almost 30 years. Andrew Bornstein is now vice president, North America sales and marketing, at Amalie Oil Co. He has served the Tampa, Fla., company since 1999, including the last nine years as business development manager. In this new position, Amalies six district managers will report to Bornstein, who in turn reports to Denny Madden, senior v.p.

Greg Miiller, general manager of the lubricant testing instrument companies Tannas Co. and King Refrigeration Inc., has been honored with an ASTM Award of Excellence. Miiller was recognized for his outstanding service since 1991 on ASTM D-2s