Suncor to Buy Petro-Canada
Petro-Canada and Suncor Energy plan to merge in a common share
exchange which a Bloomberg report estimated at Canadian $19.3 billion (U.S. $15.8 billion) in value. Suncor’s existing shareholders will own about 60 percent, and Petro-Canada shareholders will own 40 percent of the merged company.
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Quaker State Finds No Takers
Quaker State’s invitation to the Castrol, Valvoline and
Mobil 1 brands to participate in a “motor oil challenge” to decide whose synthetic motor oil has better wear protection found no takers, as ExxonMobil and BP Lubricants did not reply and Valvoline questioned the adequacy of “one-time” testing.
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King Industries Reduces Staff
King Industries confirmed that it has gone through two
rounds of reductions in force, at the beginning of the year and again in mid-March.
The privately held additive manufacturer declined to say how many workers were let go.
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UK Blend Plant Folds
A Houghton International Inc. lubricant blending plant in Wolverhampton, U.K., is scheduled to be closed at the end of this month, a casualty of the global recession. Operations at that facility, which employs approximately 50 people, will be transferred to another Houghton plant in Manchester, U.K.
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Fuchs: Outlook Cloudy
After years of strong revenue and profit growth, Germany’s Fuchs Petrolub AG last week predicted that sales and earnings will decline this year. Business in January and February was “generally unsatisfactory,” the company said, as customers reduce inventories and order less.
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BASF, Oxea Raise Chemical Prices
BASF and Oxea each increased prices for a variety of
polyalcols used in producing lubricants, while Oxea also raised prices on
several solvents.
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U.S. Base Oil Price Report
Consumers in the U.S. base oil market were inundated with price decrease notices over the past several days. Price cuts from ConocoPhillips, Flint Hills Resources, Valero, Sunoco, SK and Calumet followed announcements last week from Motiva, ExxonMobil and Chevron.
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Europe-MidEast-Africa Base Oil Price Report
Over the last week in Europe, and similarly in many other parts of the world, it seems as if industry tariff prices have been established by the producers and suppliers of base oil by applying increases of $50 to $80 per metric ton across the board.
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SSY Base Oil Shipping Report
Adrian Brown is away this week. His report will return April 8.
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