Beaumont: Goodbye to Group I
ExxonMobil will cease manufacturing API Group I base stocks and associated waxes at its Beaumont, Texas, refinery by the second quarter of 2016. The company said it will continue to produce these products in Baytown, Texas, Baton Rouge, La., and other locations worldwide. Employees affected by the units closing will be shifted to other jobs within the refinery, and Beaumonts lubricant blending plant will continue operating.
Beaumont has capacity for 10,000 barrels a day of base oil, all of it Group I, and almost 2,000 of wax. ExxonMobil said its decision is based on the ongoing shift to more highly refined base stocks – a trend driven by increasingly stringent performance requirements for automotive engine lubricants. Our Beaumont refinery remains an important part of our integrated business model, as evidenced by the recent announcement to expand an existing crude unit and downstream treatment units, said company spokesman Christian Flathman.
The company this year expanded Group II capacity at its refineries in Baytown and in Singapore, and is evaluating the possibility of building a Group II plant in Rotterdam.
It is no surprise that Beaumont would cease its base oil operations, commented Amy Claxton of My Energy, Hummelstown, Pa. ExxonMobil announced a crude expansion at its Beaumont refinery to accommodate light shale crudes. Shale crudes provide additional economic crude supply for U.S. refineries, but they are not amenable to economic processing for Group I base oil and wax production.
Thus, refinery crude slate considerations may have also played a role in the decision, since shale crudes are not paraffinic, she observed, and would not be amenable as feed to any type of base oil processing.
Quaker Absorbs Spains Verkol
Quaker Chemical upped its game in the European grease market by paying $32.4 million to acquire Verkol S.A., a specialty grease and lubricants manufacturer based in northern Spain. Verkol sells products to industrial end users, particularly the steel industry, and posted revenues of around $33 million last year. Pennsylvania-based Quaker has been expanding in the global grease market, and Verkol provides it a firm foothold in Europe. Quaker noted that Verkols technology and unique continuous-casting lubricants will help it increase shareholder value and expand its offerings to customers. Quaker said the transaction also netted valuable talent and R&D facilities.
Established in 1923, Verkol has its headquarters, R&D operations and production in Bera, Navarre, where it has been based since 1972. Quakers products include coolants, rolling oils, cleaners, corrosion preventives, fire-resistant hydraulic fluids and specialty greases.
NanoMech Expands In Arkansas
NanoMech Inc. has expanded its storage and distribution capacity by leasing 12,000 square feet of additional warehouse and office space near its headquarters in Springdale, Ark. The nanomanufacturing company says that rising demand, particularly for its nGlide additive and TriboTuff lubricant, prompted the need for additional capacity for shipping and logistics.
NanoMech has grown its lubricants and cutting tools divisions substantially over the last two years, completing a manufacturing and office expansion less than a year ago. The company expects continued growth and additional expansion in the coming months.
2nd PAO Plant for Naco
Chinese company Naco Synthetics is preparing to open a second high-viscosity polyalphaolefin plant in Tunliu County, outside Changzhi city in Shanxi province. Its first PAO plant, completed in 2012, is located in Shanghai.
The new plant is a joint venture between Naco and the Chinese mining company LuAn Group. The facilitys olefin feedstock is based on a proprietary coal-to-liquids process. Planned capacity is 15,000 metric tons per year, matching that of the Shanghai facility. At press time, the plant was expected to be on stream by end of August, confirmed Liu Qingcai, Nacos chief executive engineer.
RelaDynes Latest Buy
RelaDyne, the Cincinnati-based distributor of lubricants, fuel, diesel exhaust fluid and services, announced in June that it had acquired Palatine Oil Co. This deal represents our fourth acquisition in 2015, stated Jeff Hart, executive vice president of business development for RelaDyne, and we anticipate closing significantly more acquisitions this year as we continue to create a national platform.
Palatine Oil has been distributing fuel and lubricants for over 40 years and is one of Chicagolands largest less-than-truckload fuel marketers. RelaDyne said the entire POC sales and operations team will stay on to ensure continuity, and has relocated to Reladynes Chicago office.
RelaDyne was formed in 2010 and is backed by private equity firm AEA Investors Ltd.
Novitas Goes Kosher
Novitas Chem Solutions new lubricant additives production facility in Bellaire, Texas, has received Kosher certification from the Orthodox Union of Jewish Congregations of America. All products made at the location will now carry the kosher symbol. Novitas TPPT, an antiwear specialty additive, is currently the only product made at the facility, but the company reports plans to expand its line of Kosher-approved food grade and non-food grade additives and base fluids.
Valvoline Builds in Lexington
Ashland Inc. will erect a $35 million, 145,000-square-foot office building on its Lexington, Ky., campus to house Valvoline, its lubricants business unit that has been based in Lexington for more than 30 years.
The development will be built on land already owned by Ashland. The new facility, which Ashland plans to lease, is slated to begin construction this fall, with completion targeted for early 2017. Local government entities have offered up to $1 million in support, pending final approvals.
Ashland currently leases space in two buildings for roughly 600 Lexington-based employees. The lease on these buildings, built in the early 1980s, will expire in March 2017.
ELGI Forum Set for Amsterdam
Chemical industry mergers and rationalization, and the potential fallout in the lubricants industry, will be addressed by Don van Neuren of PwC at the second ICIS & ELGI Industrial Lubricants Conference this fall in Amsterdam. The conference is one of three coordinated events comprising the European Lubricating Grease Institute Forum, Nov. 17 to 19.
Among the confirmed speakers are Rob Stubbs of Sea-Land Chemical Europe, who will address the globalization of raw materials and additives markets; Uwe Falk of Lubrizol, on the impact of biocide regulations on metalworking fluid formulations; and Thomas Norrby of Nynas, regarding replacements for Group I base oils.
The Forum will also host the ICIS Food Grade Lubricants Seminar and the winter meetings of ELGIs Working Groups, which cover grease particle evaluation, food-grade lubricants, test methods and rheology, railway lubricants and biobased greases. A two-day grease education course will also be offered. Details can be found at www.elgi.org under ELGI Forum.
Lambent Is Now Vantage
Ester and polyalkylene glycol manufacturer Lambent Technologies, along with its Petroferm business, have changed their names to Vantage Specialties Inc. The Illinois-based company said the name change signifies unification of all Vantage business units within the personal care, performance materials and oleochemicals industries. Richard McEvoy serves as the new CEO of Vantage Specialty Chemicals.
Briefly Noted
Ford Motor Co. has bestowed its Green Pillar Award on Phillips 66. The award cited the finished lubricants suppliers leadership in sustainability and pursuit of affordable ways to create safer, more eco-friendly and quality products, as well as contributing to fuel economy improvements.
Des-Case Corp., the specialty filtration product manufacturer, has been named a Tennessean Top Workplace in an annual competition that identifies companies with the most desirable workplaces. The company was ranked in the small-company category in Middle Tennessee, and attributes its success to the employee satisfaction affirmed by this award.
In a separate survey, Sea-Land Chemical Co. was named a Top Workplace in Northeastern Ohio by the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper. The 50-year-old, employee-owned distributor of specialty chemicals received the award based solely on employee feedback.
Ohio Buy for Vesco
Michigans Vesco Oil Corp., one of the largest U.S. distributors of ExxonMobil- and Valvoline-branded lubes, as well as lines from Castrol, Perkins Products, Cam2, Motorcraft, MOC and Fortech, has acquired Ohio distributor Britsch Inc. The deal gives Vesco a bigger footprint in both states.
Vesco Oil co-owners and general managers Lena Epstein and Lilly Epstein Stotland said, Vesco Oil and Britsch have had a longstanding, positive working relationship, primarily through the ExxonMobil distributor network.
Britsch distributes automotive and industrial lubricants in northwestern Ohio, including the Toledo area, and southeastern Michigan. Vesco operates in Pennsylvania and Indiana, and over the past year has added locations in Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pa.
Allying for Analysis
Maxxam Analytics, the Canadian supplier of analytical services for the energy industry, has opened a lubricant and oil testing facility in Edmonton, Alberta, in partnership with U.S.-based Analysts Inc., which specializes in oil and condition monitoring.
The new lab will target maintenance managers in both the industrial and heavy-duty equipment markets.
Oil analysis identifies trends in wear and contamination, and monitors changes in the physical properties of lubricants and hydraulic oils. Laboratory data analysts can then pinpoint equipment problems in the earliest stages and make informed recommendations regarding machine reliability, maintenance and equipment life, the companies say.
Faces in the News
In June, Ralph Peeters joined Olyslager as vice president for business development. He is spearheading efforts to develop new products, original equipment manufacturer relationships, and key sales initiatives, particularly in North America. Peeters joins from Dutch additive, chemicals and lubricants manufacturer BRB International, where he spent the last 13 years.
Houghton International brought on Marcello Boldrini as senior vice president. He also assumes the newly created role of president of global metals, leading its specialty product lines for the major metal industries such as steel and aluminum. Boldrini most recently was executive vice president at the specialty chemical company Momentive.
Sea-Land Chemical Europe Ltd. has appointed Noud van Bavel regional sales manager, North Europe. Based in the Netherlands, he is supported from the companys Rotterdam warehouse facility, which was established in 2014. Noud brings a background in the industrial lubricants sector to the U.K. subsidiary of Ohios Sea-Land Chemical.
Rockwall, Texas-based lubricant and services supplier Whitmore announced that Robert Bob McCreary has come aboard as international sales manager. He brings more than 35 years of field experience in maintenance management at the Powder River Basin and Arch Coal. His focus will be expanding Whitmores presence in South Africa, India, Europe and Russia.
William Link joined Hydrotex last month as vice president of sales for the food-processing market, responsible for developing and strengthening relationships with companies in bottling/canning, milling, baking, meat packing and dairy operations. Link has a background in food processing and packaging, and is based at the companys Dallas headquarters. Krista Pallay has also joined Hydrotex as sales support engineer, responsible for troubleshooting technical issues and addressing questions about products and applications. She brings more than seven years of experience with chemical manufacturing companies, including Air Liquide and Dyno Nobel.
Wallover Oil Co. has hired Vincent Landino as process engineer; he brings almost 10 years of experience as a manufacturing engineer, OEM design engineer, quality control engineer and process engineer. Michael Wojtalewicz, most recently an analytical lab senior technician at BASF, joined Wallover as a chemist; he holds a chemistry degree from Baldwin Wallace College.
Bryan White is the new executive director of the Automotive Oil Change Association, and now manages all its business operations, finances and strategy. White moved over from AOCAs current management partner with more than eight years of association management experience, as well as in car care and related industries.
Lana Rjedkin has rejoined the New York office of marine lubricants broker and trader KPI Bridge Oil, after a year of heading sales in the Americas for Unimarine, which was spun off from KPI Bridge in mid-2014. Now a bunker and lubricant broker/trader at KPI, she has extensive experience in both bunkers and lubricants and fluency in Russian and Spanish.
At Glander International Bunkering, Kenneth Lim has been named bunker and lubricant trader for the Singapore office. He has experience in marine lubricants supply for Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand, and holds a degree in marketing. Lim, who has fluent English and Mandarin, also has completed the basic course on the Code of Practice for Bunkering.