According to a presentation from Ingevity, the acquisition will includeGeorgia-Pacifics pine chemical assets at its facility in Crossett, Arkansas. Ingevity President and CEO Michael Wilson said in a conference call that Crossetts 125,000 tons of capacity will increase Ingevitys refining capability by more than 45 percent. Ingevity has pine chemical plants in DeRidder, Louisiana, and in North Charleston, South Carolina, with a total of 275,000 tons of capacity.

Combining Ingevity and Georgia-Pacifics pine chemicals business adds scale, Wilson noted. The businesses are highly complementary-yet there exists limited customer overlap.

Separately, Ingevity will enter into a 20-year crude tall oil supply contract with Georgia-Pacifics paper mill operations.

Upon completion, Wilson expects the acquisition to allow Ingevity to reach a wider range of end use segments and global markets. He noted that while 90 percent of Georgia-Pacifics pine chemical sales are domestic, Ingevity does business in 65 countries.

Tianhe Itching to Make Base Oils

Tianhe Chemicals reported in August that it finished building a plant to upgrade partially refined base oils to API Group II and Group III quality, but could not begin streaming until residents follow government orders to relocate from the nearby area.

Located at Tianhes main lubricant additive manufacturing site in Jinzhou, China, the base oil finishing plant was supposed to have been nearly complete in 2014. Company officials said at that time that the facility would have capacity to upgrade 400,000 to 500,000 metric tons per year of base oil to Group II and III oils. The company said the project would use at least some of that volume to make what it called fluoride lubricating oil.

According to an August 18 regulatory filing, the project is virtually complete now, but its start-up is being delayed by residents in Jinzhou. The major construction of the Group II/III base oil project and fluoride lubricating oil project has been completed, and machines and equipment have been properly installed, Chairman and Executive Director Wei Qi said, adding that part of the ancillary facilities have not been constructed to date due to residents refusal to cooperate with a relocation arrangement from the local government. Tianhe said the negotiations between local government and residents are ongoing.

Romania to Rerefine Group II

Green Oils and Lubes, part of a United Arab Emirates-based group of companies, plans to build a base oil rerefinery in Romania. The $53 million facility will have capacity to process 72,000 metric tons of waste oils annually.

We are now in the engineering phase-more precisely, detail design-with the building permit [process] under way. Commissioning is envisioned at the beginning of 2019, and mechanical completion is expected at the end of 2018, said Victor Popovici, technical director of Green Oils and Lubes, adding that the facility will have a hydrotreater that allows it to produce API Group II base oils.

The rerefinery will be located on a 15-acre plot in Oltenita, a Danube River port city, Mazarali Kamumiya Saiyed, the companys chairman, told GBCs CIS Base Oils and Lubricants conference in Moscow in May. The Romanian authorities already gave us a green light for setting up a network for collection of used oils in the country.

Lubes from Northern Asphalt

Panjin Northern Asphalt Co., a Chinese government enterprise that makes naphthenic and API Group II base oils, is pushing its way into the countrys crowded finished lubricants market.

Its line of lubes, branded Zhong Bing Zhi Xing, is already being toll-blended and sold to original equipment manufacturers through factory-fill contracts. The Panjin, Liaoning province-based company expects to have constructed its own 100 million yuan (U.S. $15 million) lubricants blending plant at its headquarters by the end of the year.

Most of the companys lube feedstock will come from its new, 300,000 metric tons per year naphthenic base oil facility that will use catalyst technology licensed by Shell. The new production capacity will expand Panjin Northern Asphalts existing 200,000 t/y naphthenics facility in Panjin, which produces lower-quality lubes than the new unit will, and is therefore mostly used to supply clients making rubber processing oils and transformer oils.

Innov Expands Additives Plant

Innov Oilcompleted an expansion at its Singapore lube additives plant, a project aimed at meeting growing demand for its olefin copolymer viscosity modifiers and viscosity index improvers.

Innov expanded annual capacity at its copolymer additives facility in the Yishun district from 8,000 metric tons to 12,000 tons. The expansion was needed to help us increase our volume capabilities for the long term while also giving us more flexibility and precision in the manufacturing process, said Global Sales Manager Marcus Arthur.

Eastman Expands Amines

Kingsport, Tennessee-based Eastman Chemical Co. announced last month that it has completed expansion of its dimethylaminopropylamine (DMAPA) and alkyl alkanolamine capacity, which includes diethylaminoethanol (DEAE/DEEA), at its manufacturing facility in St. Gabriel, Louisiana.

Alkyl alkanolamines are neutralizing additives used in various products, including metalworking fluids. The companys website indicates that its Synergex and SynergexT products are N-alkylalkanolamines that can be used to adjust pH in semi-synthetic and full-synthetic metalworking fluid emulsions.

JXTG Nippon Aims High in Thailand

Japans JXTG Nippon Oil & Energyplans to expand lubricants capacity and distribution channels in Thailand.

Iwase Eiichiro, the Thailand subsidiarys newly appointed managing director, said the company expects production in the country to increase by more than a million liters this year and sales volume to reach two million liters next year. Currently, 95 percent of its Eneos-branded motor oils sold in Thailand are produced locally, and the remainder is imported from Japan.

To establish brand awareness and expand market share in Thailand, the company will increase its branded workshops from its current network of less than 20 to 100 in the next five years, Iwase noted, and its number of dealers from 700 to 1,000.

Briefly Noted

Valvoline purchased 56 stores from its largest franchisee, Henley Bluewater, in Ohio and Michigan. The acquisition is expected to be completed during first quarter 2018. The company also signed eight new development agreements with seven franchisees of its Valvoline Instant Oil Change service centers to add more than 160 new stores in the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic and California by 2023.

Fuchs Petrolub SE and DMG Mori A.G. agreed to collaborate on a technology partnership to jointly develop new lubricant solutions and services for machine tool applications.

Russian oil major Lukoil signed a lubricants supply contract with diamond mining company Alrosa, which claims to account for almost a third of global rough diamond production.

Singapore-headquartered global oil company Puma Energy formed a joint venture with diversified Pakistani conglomerate Chishti Group to acquire 51 percent of Pakistans fuel, petroleum products and lubricants firm Admore Gas Pvt.

Chevron Lubricants Lanka began exporting synthetic lubricants to Pakistan, marking its first overseas sales outside of Bangladesh and the Maldives.

Faces in the News

Sea-Land Chemical Co. promoted Jennifer Altstadt to chief operating officer. She was previously director of marketing and later senior vice president of operations and strategy at the company.

Kirk Schlup was hired as business development manager for Liquid Minerals Group. Schlup has over 30 years of experience in product development and chemical sales and most recently served as managing director of his consultancy, KS Resources.

Emerald Performance Materials appointed Wendy Herbst as general manager for its antioxidants and accelerators business, which is a result of the companys split of its polymer additives and nitriles groups into separate business units.

Len Badal is now vice president of sales and business development at BioBlend. He previously held senior management roles at Chevron and ExxonMobil.

Pilot Chemical made two new hires. Bill Woods is technical marketing manager for the companys Mason Chemical division, while Paul Washlock was named distribution sales manager for North America.

Jim Newcombe

James Jim L. Newcombe, 73, died of cancer at his family home in Indiana on Aug. 13. The longtime face and voice of Paramins Detroit Trends (later Infineum Trends), he wrote the additive companys popular roadshow and delivered it to thousands of lubricant blenders and marketers each year, leavening the technical details with dry wit and tart asides.

No less visibly, Newcombe was in the thick of the often heated negotiations between oil and additive companies and the auto industry in the late 1980s and early 90s that led to the ILSAC GF-series of engine oils. He was a fierce advocate for the oil/additive side: Wielding technical points like a rapier, he gained the attention and respect of both allies and adversaries, many of whom became lifelong friends. He championed collaborative solutions, too, helping to make the American Chemistry Councils Code of Practice a bedrock of all API-licensed oils.

Newcombe was raised in St. Louis, and worked for Amoco Chemicals after graduating from the Missouri School of Mines & Metallurgy. His 35-year career took him to Hatco Chemical (owned then by W.R. Grace), Exxon Chemical Paramins and finally its successor Infineum International, where he served as marketing manager and liaison to the global auto industry. He served as chairman of SAE Internationals Technical Committee 1 on automotive engine oils in the late 1980s, when TC-1 had a pivotal role in setting engine oil standards.

In the 1970s, Newc unleashed his adventurous side as a racecar driver, running a successful SCCA team with his wife Pat that won the Northeast Championship several years in a row. Later, as Exxons sponsor representative with its winning NASCAR racing team, he proudly stood in Victory Circle with Geoff Bodine at Daytona.

Besides his love of racing, he also was an avid golfer and active as a community volunteer. Survivors include his wife Patricia Lee, two daughters, a granddaughter, sister and brother, and extended family.