Shell Opens New Zhuhai, Guangdong Lube Blending Plant
Shell Lubricants last week announced the start-up of its newest lubricants complex in Asia to meet growing demand in China. With a production capacity of 200 million liters (175,000 metric tons) per year, and the potential for a phased development to 400 million liters per year, the complex could become one of Shell's top three lubricants blending plants worldwide in volume terms. In a further development, Shell also announced new investment in a technical facility at the complex.
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API Distributes ILSAC GF-5 Ballot
On November 19, 2009, the International Lubricant Standardization and Approval Committee (ILSAC) issued for comment a draft standard for ILSAC GF-5, the next passenger car motor oil (PCMO) upgrade. This ILSAC GF-5 standard, if approved, would replace the current standard, GF-4. The American Petroleum Institute (API), which will license the new PCMO category, distributed the ILSAC GF-5 specification for ballot. Responses on the ballot are due back to API by Dec. 19, 2009.
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A Review of 2009 Global Lubricants Industry
The global lubricants industry entered 2009 with significant negative momentum. The last quarter of 2008 was very bad in terms of sales growth, and worse was to come. In the first quarter of 2009, sales volumes dropped 20% to 40% depending on the end-use industry, product, and region. Recovery seems to have started sometime in the third quarter of 2009 in Asia, as well as Indonesia and South America. The United States is recovering, but high unemployment will continue to be an enduring problem.
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Chrysler Recalls Jeeps Due to Potential ATF Fires
Chrysler has announced that it is recalling 2007 through 2008 model year Jeep Wranglers manufactured between June 2006 through July 2008 passenger vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions. Over 161,000 Wranglers are affected. These Wrangler models were not fitted with a transmission fluid temperature warning system. If the AT fluid in the affected vehicles overheats, it may boil over and come in contact with hot engine or exhaust components – possibly leading to a fire.
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John Deere Introduces Plus-50™ II Premium Engine Oil
John Deere has introduced its new Plus-50™ II Premium Engine Oil for use in high-speed four-stroke diesel engines in heavy-duty agricultural and off-road equipment and lighter duty on-road vehicles. Plus-50 II replaces Plus-50 engine oil, which has been one of John Deere's most widely used premium engine oils. John Deere Plus-50 II meets or exceeds the requirements for most major diesel engine manufacturers and comes in SAE 15W-40 and 10W-30 viscosity grades.
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Cognis Reports Strong Earnings Growth in Q3
In the first nine months of 2009, Cognis' sales volumes fell by 11.8 percent compared with the same period in 2008. In comparison with the second quarter 2009, third quarter global sales volumes increased by 5.1 percent. Functional Products, which includes synthetic lubricant basestocks and compounded synthetic lubricants and components, achieved sales of 591 million euros, representing a fall of 18.9 percent. Compared to the second quarter of 2009, Functional Products third quarter sales volumes stabilized.
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Eastern Hemisphere Lube Base Oil Price Report
Last week crude oil prices remained in a range of US$76-80 per barrel with light sweet crude oil closing at US$75.97 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange last Friday. Eastern hemisphere base oil prices fell by US$15 to US$50 per MT, with the most significant decreases being Solvent Neutrals ex-Europe and ex-Russia which decreased by as much as US$50 per MT, primarily due to increasing stocks held in tanks at Latvia's Baltic coast.
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