Volume 16 Issue 6

SSY Base Oil Shipping Report

It has been another bull run out of the U.S. Gulf, with space so scarce that ships are starting to ballast long distances to participate. Europe has been steady, while Asia is out celebrating the Lunar New Year. U.S. Gulf Routes to the Far East had another amazing week. Methanol has been extremely active to Asia from the Caribbean and the U.S. Gulf, and since many of these requirements are between 20,000 and 40,000 metric tons, they have virtually depleted the entire stock of spare chemical carr...

Vertex Sells Nevada Rerefinery

Clean Harbors acquired Vertex Energys rerefinery in Fallon, Nevada, for $35 million to boost plans to increase its rerefining presence in California and other West Coast lubricant markets. Vertex has been renting the Bango rerefinery from Bango Oil since May, under a lease that allowed it to purchase the facility at any time. In its Feb. 3 announcement of the deal with Safety-Kleen, Vertex said it used $14 million that it received at closing to execute its purchase agreement with Bango Oil and t...

Construction Nears for Kazakh Lubes Plant

Russian oil major Lukoil will break ground on its new blending plant in Kazakhstan in the spring of 2016, the company told Lube Report on Monday. Lukoil head Vagit Alekperov announced the plans to build the U.S. $80 million, 100,000 metric tons per year capacity blending plant in 2013. However, the company postponed its efforts due to Kazakhstans state restriction on import and export of base oils and finished lubricants to and from the country. Photo: Google Maps Lukoil’s new blending pl...

Dollar Shortage Chokes Nigeria Base Oil Imports

A shortage of United States dollars in Nigeria has discouraged base oil and additive purchases by local lubricant blenders, creating an artificial scarcity that has raised raw material prices locally. Although base oil prices are crashing globally, numerous lubricant companies in Nigeria are unable or unwilling to import because access to the dollar in Nigeria is tight and the naira is weak in foreign markets, several players told Lube Report at a lubricants packaging conference in Lagos last we...

Chevron Launches Supply Hub in Turkey

The volume of commerce moving through and within Turkey is growing at a rapid pace. That means more truck traffic, more demand for engine oils that trucks use and greater need for the base oils used to make them. Its no surprise, then, that a base stock supplier like Chevron would want to jump into the Turkish market. The U.S.-based company on Monday announced an agreement for Istanbul-based chemicals distributor Ekin Kimya to supply its base oils and process oils in this crossroads country. Acc...

SK Lubricants Posts Increased Profits

SK Lubricants posted operating profit of 113.8 billion Korean won (U.S. $94.4 million) for the fourth quarter of 2015, up 59.4 percent from 71.4 billion won in the year-earlier period. For the full fiscal year, operating income reached 295 billion won, up 1.6 percent from 290.3 billion won in 2014. The lubricants business reported 680.6 billion won in revenue for the quarter, down 14.8 percent from 799.1 billion won in 2014s fourth quarter. For the full fiscal year, revenue reached 2.6 trillion ...

Briefly Noted

Dublin, California-based lube and fuel additives manufacturer IPAC opened its first international production facility in Ghent, Belgium. Pilot Chemical Co. named Michael Scott president and said Pam Butcher, current president and CEO, will remain as CEO during a transition period, then move to the board of directors. United Kingdom-based industrial lubricants manufacturer Metalube opened an office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, creating Metalube Arabia.