Volume 17 Issue 7

SSY Base Oil Shipping Report

February space is looking tight on most routes out of the U.S. Deep-sea routes from Europe are active, although coastal markets lack sparkle. Asia is slowly beginning to rebuild cargo volumes after the Lunar New Year celebrations. U.S. Gulf There has not been a massive amount of fixing done on the route to the Far East so far, mainly because February space is just about all accounted for, while the March positions have still to receive all the contractual nominations. Once those are in, owners c...

Automotive Drives U.S. Synlube Growth

Demand for synthetic engine oils in the United States is forecast to grow 5 percent per year to 148 million gallons by 2020, with a market value of $2.2 billion, according to a new study by Freedonia Group. Fully synthetic products comprised 11 percent of engine oil demand in 2015, nearly all of that for the automotive market. Increasing penetration of synthetics into the engine oils market will allow demand for synthetic products to continue growing, despite overall flatness in engine oil deman...

Enterprise to Expand Isobutylene Production

Enterprise Products Partners plans to construct a new isobutane dehydrogenation plant in Texas with capability to produce 425,000 tons per year of isobutylene. Isobutylene is a building block for polyisobutylene (PIB), which is used as a chemical intermediate in the manufacturing of lubricant additives and as a base stock in lubricants. The company said the isobutane dehydrogenation plant should help meet market demand where supplies have been reduced. Enterprise said it will increase its produc...

Gazprom Lube Sales Flat in 2016

Gazpromneft-Lubricants sold 353,000 metric tons of finished lubricants in 2016, barely more than its sales of 351,000 tons in 2015. The company, the lubricant arm of the Russian oil major Gazprom Neft, reported Feb. 3 that it continues increasing the proportion of its sales volumes that are premium lubes. It sold 258,000 tons of products that it defines as premium in 2016, up from 222,000 tons in 2015. In 2016 our Russian and international sales of high quality finished products increased by 16 ...

U.S. Aftermarket Benefits from Growing Fleet

Registrations for light vehicles in operation – including cars, light trucks, SUVs and crossover SUVs – in the U.S. reached a record level of more than 264 million in 2016, up 2.4 percent from 2015, according to IHS Markit. Adding vehicles to the fleet on the road is a boon for the automotive aftermarket industry – those in components manufacturing, repair and service. Mark Seng, the market analysts director of its global automotive aftermarket practice, said that whenever more...

Briefly Noted

Shell said it aims to finish separating the assets of U.S. joint venture Motiva by April 1. The Motiva base oil plant in Port Arthur, Texas, would go to partner Saudi Aramco. British Columbia-based Klondike Lubricants expanded its distribution network to Atlantic Canada, which it services from a new warehousing center in Moncton, New Brunswick. TBC sold SpeeDee Oil Change & Auto Service, which has more than 100 shops across the United States, to automotive maintenance franchisor Grease Monkey. Michael McHenry joined metalworking fluids supplier Master Chemical as CEO. Intertek expanded grease testing capabilities at its site in Farnborough, United Kingdom.