U.S. Base Oil Capacity Rises
Boosted by larger volumes for Ergon and Calumet, base oil capacity in the United States totaled 214,500 barrels per day on Jan. 1, up 6 percent from the start of 2009, according to the 2010 Lubricating Oil and Wax Capacities Report by the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association.
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Sale Signs Sprout at Shell Africa
Shell is seeking buyers for its lubricants and other businesses in 21 countries in Africa as part of efforts to reduce its global downstream footprint and focus on larger markets.
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U.S. Synlubes Outlook Promising
U.S. demand for synthetic lubricants and functional fluids could enjoy more than 3 percent annual growth in the coming years to $4.8 billion in 2013, as marketing efforts and more stringent engine specifications raise awareness of synthetics, predicts a new study from market research firm Freedonia Group.
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Lubes Rebound for Cognis
Cognis’ Functional Products unit, including its synthetic lubricants business, posted an operating profit of €54 million (U.S. $73.4 million) for the full year 2009, an 8 percent improvement over 2008.
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Growmark Buys Illinois Distributor
Growmark and eight of its member cooperatives acquired the business and inventory of Tri-County Petroleum, including its lubricants and fuels business in six southern Illinois towns. Terms of the March 31 transaction were not disclosed.
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Briefly Noted
Y.M. Park was appointed base oil marketing team general
manager for SK Lubricants’ Yubase
business in Seoul, South Korea, effective April 1, while K.S. Ryu replaced Park
as president of SK Lubricants Americas
in Houston… Blender and packager ZXP
Technologies of Highlands, Texas, named Mark Lexow executive vice president
of sales and marketing… Geneva, Switzerland-based Oryx Oil & Gas will produce and distribute Gulf Oil Marine affiliate Sealub
Alliance’s marine lubricants products and services in Eastern and Western
Africa, including Senegal, Ivory Coast, Togo, Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania.
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U.S. Base Oil Price Report
The U.S. base oil market was inundated with more price increase notices over the past week. Apart from late March announcements by San Joaquin Refining and Cross Oil alerting their customers of certain price hikes, two other major naphthenic producers stepped out with fresh initiatives to bolster pale oil prices between 12 and 15 cents per gallon.
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Europe-MidEast-Africa Base Oil Price Report
The EMEA market has been quiet, but nevertheless still active over the past seven days. The quiet aspect has resulted from the Easter holiday period, and the active part has been the noticeable inclination to higher prices over the week.
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SSY Base Oil Shipping Report
Adrian Brown is away this week.
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Correction
Early editions of last week’s article, “GM Switches to Flat
Fee on Dexos,” listed the American Petroleum Institute’s licensing fees for
2009. API increased the fees in 2010, and now charges an annual fee of $1,250
for members ($250 more for nonmembers), and a royalty of $0.002 per gallon for
volumes exceeding 1 million gallons a year.
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