Production at the BP Castrol Stanlow lubricant manufacturing plant in Ellesmere Port will stop by the end of next month, with the plant’s total closure scheduled for next March. BP had announced back in February of this year that following a review of the business, it was decided to close the lubricant manufacturing plant at Stanlow and transfer manufacturing to the company's other facilities in Europe.

Universal Lubricants, LLC announced today the opening of its new oil re-refinery, phase one of their strategic initiative to become the national leader in re-refining used motor oil using new technologies. It is the fourth facility of its kind in the United States and will dramatically reduce pollution, greenhouse gases, and waste.

Following previous price increase announcements, CITGO, BP Lubricants/Castrol, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips all announced lubricant price increases of anywhere from 5% to 9%. Also, rerefiner Safety-Kleen announced a lubricant price increase of 40 cents per gallon.

Reports out of Hong Kong advise that China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) have proposed paying at least $17 billion for all of Repsol YPF SA's stake in YPF, its Argentine unit. Another report later last week states that India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is looking for a partner to make a similar $17 billion bid for YPF.

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