Holly Buys Sunoco Tulsa for $65M
Holly Corp. will enter the lubricants
market by buying Sunoco’s Tulsa, Okla., refinery, including its 9,500 barrel
per day API Group I base oil plant, for $65 million. Last December, Sunoco told
analysts it might convert the 85,000 barrel per day refinery into a terminal in
late 2009 if it couldn’t find a buyer for it.
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Signposts on the Road to GF-5
ILSAC GF-5, the new passenger car engine oil specification slated for completion in December, will put better oils in motorists’ crankcases. But its development involves tradeoffs between fuel economy and robustness, according to an expert panel, and North America is becoming a much more complicated place to make and sell engine oils.
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U.S. Base Oil Capacity Declines
Reflecting the exits of Marathon and Citgo from the market
last year, base oil capacity in the United States stood at 202,400 barrels per
day as of Jan. 1, down 8.2 percent from the start of 2008, according to the
2009 Lubricating Oil and Wax Capacities Report by the National Petrochemical
and Refiners Association.
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Metal Finishing Firms Forge Partnership
Galaxy Associates on April 10 acquired Challenge Inc., an
Indianapolis-based manufacturer of metal finishing and metalworking chemicals. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
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Briefly Noted
Castrol Industrial North America will consolidate manufacturing at its Warminster, Pa., site, closing a smaller plant in Vernon, Calif., in the fourth quarter, and will move East and Midwest warehousing and logistics to a single East Coast site, closing some smaller depots... Royal Dutch Shell will provide Chinese automaker Geely Automobile Holding Ltd. with lubricating oil products and system support... An off-specification lubricant prompted Mebane, N.C.-based Kidde to recall 167,000 fire extinguishers because they may lose pressure prematurely.
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U.S. Base Oil Price Report
The U.S. base oil market was quiet this week, with no reported changes to posted prices. Sources report a slight uptick in paraffinic orders.
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Europe-MidEast-Africa Base Oil Price Report
For the first time for a long spell the European base oil market would appear to be relatively stable, with little price movement up or down. Solvent neutral API Group I grades remain in the area of $425 to $475 per metric ton, basis FOB, mainland European ports.
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SSY Base Oil Shipping Report
Demand for chemicals into China has continued at a strong pace, confounding those who declared that demand would dry up in May. Base oil demand too has been forthcoming, with large cargoes to ship from the United States, Europe and India. Some seasoned observers have been asking themselves how much longer it can continue.
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