The market in Asia is understandably slower in advance of the Lunar New Year celebrations, but the markets in Europe and the United States have both been fairly busy, especially considering a sizeable chunk of business will have been affected by the Asian slowdown. U.S. Gulf Even though it has become difficult for traders to conclude many of the deals to the Far East that they had been working on, there is quite a lot of business still pending which will probably be picked up again after the lun...

ExxonMobil, Chevron, Cam2 International and Omni Specialty Packaging notified U.S. customers of upcoming price increases on finished lubricants that go into effect in February and March. Factors cited included rising base oil prices and costs of other raw material related to manufacturing, distribution and packaging. ExxonMobil notified customers this week of a general price hike of up to 5 percent on its branded and unbranded lubricants and greases, effective Feb. 22. Chevron notified custom...

Evonik Industries announced today that it acquired a minority stake in Nanotech Industrial Solutions, placing a bet that nanotechnology will become an important tool in the lubricant additive toolbox. The companies did not disclose the amount of Evoniks investment or the size of its share in NIS, but Evonik officials said they believe NISs technology can help Evonik provide additives that will be valuable to lubricant marketers. Evonik believes that the investment offers the chance to fulfill ev...

Baerlocher USA announced earlier this month that it will add a third reactor to its Cincinnati, Ohio, plant to keep up with growing demand from the North American polyolefin and polyvinyl chloride industries. The new reactor, which is set to be fully operational by June 2017, will increase production capacity of calcium, zinc, sodium and other metal soaps by 50 percent. As demand caused the plant to nearly reach full capacity, Baerlocher USA saw the opportunity to increase their production capac...

Lubricating Specialties Co. recently acquired the Vistone product line and associated business from Infineum USA L.P. The transaction, which closed Dec. 30, included Vistones compressor fluid brand, a detergent additive for aviation lubricants, and a viscosity modifier used in a variety of industrial lubricant and grease formulations. The price of the transaction was not disclosed. According to LSCs website, it has previously offered a synthetic air compressor oil designed to provide extended se...