Marathon to Exit Lubes
Marathon Petroleum Co. yesterday began notifying customers of its
plans to exit the base oil, wax and aromatic extracts markets, and to eventually
shut down its base oil plant in Catlettsburg, Ky., several sources told Lube
Report. The base oil plant has 6,800 barrels per day of API Group I capacity.
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Russia Eyes Base Stock Upgrades
Taneco, a unit of Tatneft, disclosed plans last week to construct a new API Group II/Group III base oil plant in Russia’s Tatarstan region within three years, with capacity to make 100,000 metric tons of base stocks per year. In addition, officials from Gazprom, Rosneft and Turkmenistan's Turkmenbashi Oil all said their facilities have plans to upgrade to Group II and/or Group III production.
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REACH: a Non-tariff Trade Barrier?
REACH, the European Union’s chemical regulation scheme, is more about trade and business than the environment, experts told the ILMA Management Forum earlier this month. Failure to comply – the narrow window for preregistering chemical substances opens June 1 and closes Nov. 30, 2008 – could result in a ban on a company’s exports to the EU.
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Miller Acquires Crescent Oil
Miller Industrial Fluids acquired industrial lubricant blender Crescent Oil Co. Inc. on April 11. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
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ExMo Sells Iberian Business
Galp Energia Group and ExxonMobil Mediterranea s.r.l. have signed an agreement for the sale of shares of Esso Espanola, S.L. and ExxonMobil Portugal Holdings BV, owner of Esso Portuguesa LDA, to Galp Energia. The sale includes transfer of most of ExxonMobil’s lubricants businesses in the two countries to Galp.
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Huntsman, Dow, Oxea Raise Prices
Huntsman Corp. said it will raise prices on polyetheramines used in additives, Dow Biocides announced upcoming price increases on a variety of chemicals used in metalworking fluids, and Oxea said it would raise list and off-list prices for several solvents.
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Chemtura Picks DePew
Chemtura Corp. has named Rick DePew as vice president, global sales, performance specialties, which includes the Middlebury, Conn., company’s petroleum additives business. He succeeds Rick Beitel, who is retiring.
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U.S. Base Oil Price Report
News of fresh base oil price hikes swept through the U.S. market this week as crude oil values reached yet another new high at over $119 per barrel on Tuesday. Five companies raised posted paraffinic prices by 20 cents per gallon, while naphthenic producers announced increases of 20 to 30 cents per gallon.
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