Adrian Brown is away.

Engine oil demand in Russia rose 2.4 percent in 2014, according to a newly released study from market researcher RPI. The Moscow-based company said the market would have grown more had it not been held back by the countrys economic problems. Over the past few years, the motor oil market has witnessed dramatic changes on the demand side, Nikita Medvedev, the consultancys senior analyst, told Lube Report. These changes were mainly caused by overall negative trends in the Russian economy. The consu...

Rerefiner Vertex Energy plans to launch a finished lubricants product line, the companys top executive said in a letter to shareholders. Given our expertise in collecting used motor oil and our significant base oil processing capabilities, the next logical step for Vertex Energy is to produce our own line of finished lubes that can be sold into the market, Chairman and CEO Ben Cowart said in the letter, posted to the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. By doing so, we believe that we c...

A California resident filed a class action lawsuit against the owner of Dollar General discount stores, alleging that its house brand motor oils are obsolete and harmful to vehicles. David Sanchez filed the complaint Dec. 17 on behalf of any customers whose vehicles suffered damage due to use of motor oils purchased from the chain, which is owned by Tennessee-based Dolgencorp LLC. The complaint stated that Dollar General allegedly sold its DG Auto brand motor oils by using deceptive and misleadi...

The American Petroleum Institute increased its fees for Engine Oil Licensing and Certification last month, to offset costs related to the upcoming introduction of new heavy duty diesel and gasoline engine oil categories. Effective Dec. 15, 2015, the revised EOLCS fee structure is: License application fee for first-time licensees increased to $4,000, up from $3,000. License renewal fee increased to $4,000, up from $3,000. Renewers pay the flat fee each year per company, not per product. The lice...

The Tanzanian Bureau of Standards revved up its crackdown on substandard lubes, demanding two reshipment orders in two weeks. Rhoida Andusamile, public relations officer for the TBS, noted that the agency refused on Dec. 31 to allow one base oil shipment to enter the country because it did not meet the countrys requirements for stocks used to blend finished lubricants. I can confirm that TBS handed out the order of reshipment to Hass Petroleum on 16,000 metric tons of base oils because it did no...