There are many in the chemical tanker industry who are still away attending a key industry event and, consequently, market activity has been rather dull over the past few days. U.S. Gulf Commodity prices are extremely volatile at the moment along the U.S. Gulf to Far East route, making any sales or purchasing decisions potentially risky. The drop in crude oil prices, coupled with a short-term oversupply of many commodities within Asia, has sparked a worldwide decline in demand. But it really is ...

BP Castrol, Martin Lubricants, Cam2 International and Smittys Supply notified U.S. customers of finished lubricant increases that take effect from mid-April into early May, most citing increasing costs for raw materials such as base oil and additives. BP Lubricants USA informed customers of price increases of up to 3 percent effective May 1 on Castrol and BP branded products, excluding industrial lubricants. The company already implemented a 5 percent price increase on March 20. Martin Lubricant...

Eastern Europes lubricant demand declined 0.5 percent from 2015 to just slightly above 3 million tons in 2016, hindered by economic problems in Russia and Ukraine, according to German lube manufacturer Fuchs Petrolub SE. The trend in Eastern Europe compared unfavorably, for example, to the mature markets of North America and Western Europe, which saw lubricant demand rise 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, said Apu Gosalia, Fuchs vice president of sustainability and global competitive in...

Russian oil major Slavneft, a 50-50 joint venture of Rosneft and Gazprom Neft, is set to stream its first batches of Group III base oil at its Yaroslavl refinery in April, industry sources said last week. The 100,000 metric tons per year Group III base oil plant was previously expected to begin production by the end of 2016 at the latest. In March 2016, the operator cited technical reconfiguration of the project as a reason for the delay, and the start date was pushed back to the first quarter o...

OG&A BioSpecialties LLC plans to build a 1,000 barrels per day biobased wax and ester production plant in Kentucky by the end of 2017, and expects to commence commercial operations in 2018. The company announced in a news release Monday that engineering, procurement and construction activities are underway for the project in Owensboro. An official in OG&A BioSpecialties Owensboro office told a reporter the company wouldnt comment beyond the news release. The company is a partnership of...