Despite some degradation, the U.S. market is still fairly active. Europe is moving along too, albeit at a slow pace. The biggest falls in demand and rates appear to have occurred in Asia. U.S. Gulf There is supposedly plenty of space on the route to the Far East, with most commentators suggesting that rates could fall further. However, there is only a minimal amount of prompt space around, with the first of the main contenders weighing in around mid-August. It will very much depend on the line t...

The rerefining industry faces an uphill battle in developing markets, according to a report from consultancy Kline & Co. Regulations around used oil disposal, collection logistics, used oil quality control and consumer attitudes all present challenges in markets such as China, India and Russia. During a webinar covering the report last week, Kunal Mahajan, project manager for energy at Kline, highlighted the vast differences in the used oil collection and rerefining industries between devel...

Allegheny Petroleum and its distributor partner Paramount Trading Jamaica Ltd. will build a 7,500 metric tons per year lubricants blending plant in Kingston, Jamaica, with commissioning expected at the start of 2017. The joint venture blending plant will encompass 15,000 square feet on a 1.5 acre site, Allegheny President Jim Kudis told Lube Report. Initial storage at the facility will be about 680 tons. Kudis confirmed that Allegheny is providing information technology – such as accountin...

Russian passenger car and light commercial vehicle sales are expected to plunge 16 percent to about 1.35 million units in 2016, the countrys automobile dealers association projected, which will likely deter sales of motor oils. Light vehicle sales in Russia have been sliding since March 2013, Vladimir Mozhenov, president of the Association of Russian Automobile Dealers (which uses the acronym Road), said during a press briefing in Moscow this week. We still havent hit the bottom, and one can con...

Profits were up for Valvoline, South Korean base oil refiners SK Lubricants and S-Oil, and BPs lubricants business for the quarter ending in June, compared to a year earlier. Transformer oil rerefiner Hydrodec reported increased revenue from core rerefining activities for the first six months, compared to 2015’s first half. Valvoline Ashland reported $109 million in operating income for its Valvoline segment during the three months ending June 30 (the third quarter of Ashlands fiscal year)...