Volume 2 Issue 33

SSY Base Oil Shipping Report

The U.S. Gulf is not showing any serious signs of a summer recess so far. Europe has got off to a slow start to August, while in Asia market conditions are no better than before, but nor have they deteriorated further.-by Adrian Brown

Orlen-Lotos Merger Draws Scrutiny

The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation into the planned merger of Polands two main oil companies, PKN Orlen and Lotos, to assess whether the deal would violate anti-monopoly rules in the lubricants industry and other markets.

Study Plugs Scrubbers for IMO 2020

A Norwegian research group recently stated that overall emissions of greenhouse gases would be lower if ships installed exhaust gas cleaning systems and continued to use heavy fuel oil than if they followed other routes to comply with looming IMO 2020.

Sabic, Clariant Defer Union

Chemical manufacturer Saudi Basic Industries Corp., a 24.99 percent stakeholder in Clariant AG, said the two companies will temporarily defer discussions on a possible merger of Clariants additives and masterbatch areas into SABICs specialties business.

From Other Editions of Lube Report

Briefly Noted

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association reported that during the first half of 2019, demand for new passenger cars across the European Union was down by 3.1 percent compared to the same period last year, to a total of 8.2 million registrations. ACEA also reported that over the first half of the year, the EU market for new commercial vehicles grew by 5.8 percent, to almost 1.36 million new vehicles