It was another dull week in Asia, and Europes market continued to flatten. Only U.S. business is thriving – yet even there, freight rates have stopped rising. U.S. Gulf The situation on routes to the Far East is pretty much the same as it has been for the past couple of months. Contractual volumes are high, leaving little available space for spot business, and those ships that do show any space are swamped with enquiries. As such, May space is virtually sold out, and cargoes that do get fi...

Lubricant demand in the United States is projected to increase 0.3 percent annually to 2.4 billion gallons by 2020, according to a new study by Freedonia Group. Rising manufacturing output and increasing commercial activity are some of the trends driving this growth. Certain industries, such as commercial transportation and manufacturing, have rebounded in the last five years after reduced activity during the 2008 recession in the U.S., Freedonia analyst Minor Cline told Lube Report. Manufacturi...

Suppliers of metal alloys and metal removal fluids are waiting to see if the European Parliament will tighten limits on the use of lead in steel, aluminum and copper alloys. Metalworking fluid marketers will likely need to reformulate products if parliamentarians allow expiration of decade-old looser rules on the content of those metals. At issue is the European Unions Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) – which took effect in 2006 and which declared lead, cadmium...

Gazpromneft-Lubricants combined sales of base oils and lubricants rose by 11 percent to 528,000 tons in 2015, driven by increased domestic and foreign marketing of its finished products, the company said. Last year we sold 351,000 tons of finished products and 177,000 tons of base oils, Gazpromneft-Lubricants told Lube Report. Of these, domestic and foreign [premium] product sales amounted to 222,000 tons, up 24 percent compared to the 2014 sales, the company said. Photo: Gazpromneft-Lubricants...

Profits were up for Valvoline, BPs lubricants business, SK Lubricants and S-Oils base oil business for the quarter ending March 31, compared to the year-earlier quarter. Valvoline Ashlands Valvoline segment posted $105 million in operating income for the quarter ending March 31, up 28 percent from $82 million in the year-earlier period. Sales were $479 million, down slightly from $481 million. Strong lubricant volumes and product mix were offset by pass-through pricing from lower raw-material co...