Volume 16 Issue 14

SSY Base Oil Shipping Report

Adrian Brown is away this week.

Comments on CP Refute EPA's Risk Analysis

March 23 marked the deadline for stakeholders to submit comments about environmental risks and critical applications associated with medium- and long-chain chlorinated paraffins to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Seventeen associations and companies submitted more than two dozen letters, technical reports and environmental studies to EPAs docket in the Federal Register. Producers and users of MCCPs and LCCPs – including Boeing, Dow and 3M – now await feedback about their co...

BRB Holding Seeks to Grow its Additives Businesses

Independent investment company Bencis Capital Partners acquired a 50.1 percent majority share in Netherlands-based BRB Holdings B.V., which will allow the manufacturer to continue expanding its silicone and oil additives business segments. BRB, a global producer of silicones, lubricant oil additives and chemicals, said in a press release that with Bencis as a majority shareholder, the company will move toward manufacturing and product range expansion, as well as extend its geographical coverage ...

U.S. Aftermarket Motor Oil Sales Grow

Motor oil sales at U.S. automotive aftermarket chains grew 1.7 percent to $2.6 billion in 2015, boosted by trends such as an aging car population and consumers switching to more premium products, according to NPD Groups Retail Tracking Service. Passenger car motor oil, the largest motor oil subcategory tracked under the motor oil category, also grew 1.7 percent in dollars but was flat in quart volume, Nathan Shipley, director and automotive aftermarket industry analyst for NPD Group, told Lube R...

Cepsa Opens Automated Lubes Warehouse

Spanish multinational oil and gas company Cepsa opened a fully automated lubricants warehouse in San Roque, Cadiz province, to improve logistics. The 4,590-square meter warehouse involved an investment of 14 million (U.S. $15.9 million), and has capacity to store over 26,000 pallets of lubricant oil drums, according to a promotional video on Cepsas website. The site employs 70 people, with all the packaging movements being handled by automated stacking cranes. Photo: Cepsa / Flickr Cepsa’...

Rosneft Upgrades Angarsk Lube Plant

Russian lube maker Rosneft more than doubled the output of its blending plant in its Angarsk refinery located in eastern Siberia. The company upgraded its finished lubricants production unit so that it is now able to produce up to 60,000 tons annually, Rosneft said in a March 25 news release. The project included a modernized automatic line capable of filling a variety of canister volumes, automatic transportation of drums from the storage house to the filling line and installation of new pumpin...

Croda to Add Production Capacity in France

Croda International Plc plans to build a new production facility at its Chocques manufacturing site in northern France to increase capacity at the site by more than 20 percent by early 2017, including for several types of surfactants. The company said the extra volume will not only allow it to meet ever increasing demand for some of its surfactants within the Tween, Brij and Myrj ranges, it will also significantly improve flexibility of production across the manufacturing site. According to Crod...

ATIEL Warns of Muddled Claims on European Oils

ATIEL, the European lubricants industrys technical association, announced it has developed new guidance for engine lubricant marketers on making valid performance claims against more than one category within the ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association) 2012 European Oil Sequences. In a news release, the association said the guidance is in response to findings of an ATIEL quality survey that revealed a number of products on the market bearing incompatible or incomplete claims. For combined performance claims guidance – including a matrix table identifying possible, impossible or highly unlikely claims – visit ATIELs website.

Briefly Noted

Trivest Partners L.P. sold New Orleans-based quick lube chain Take 5 Oil Change Inc, to Roark Capital portfolio company Driven Brands for an undisclosed amount. IMCD N.V. will distribute Solvay Specialty Polymers lubrication grades of Fomblin brand perfluropolyether in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Lumar will market BASFs specialty amines for the cooling lubricants and metalworking fluids industry in Europe, initially in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Portugal.