Adrian Brown is away this week.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – Takreers flagship 600,000 tons per year API Group II/III base oils plant at Ruwais, U.A.E., is facing further delays and may not start production this year, according to an executive at Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.s marketing and refining directorate. We expect production to start sometime in the fourth quarter, said the executive, who asked not to be named. It might be October, or it could be later. Takreer, which is wholly owned by Adnoc, is conducting pre...

A United States District Court in Colorado has ordered a Utah-based bicycle chain lube distributor, Squirt LLC, to stop counterfeiting and marketing its former suppliers product, Squirt. Earlier this month, Bikinvention 2 CC, a South Africa-based bike lube manufacturer, sued its former U.S. distributor, John Tucker, doing business as Squirt LLC, for allegedly counterfeiting its flagship product, a wax-based bicycle lube trademarked as Squirt. Lube Report was not able to reach Tucker or his lawye...

Fuchs Petrolub SE said last week that it has agreed to buy Lubritene and Lubrasa, sister specialty lubricant companies based in South Africa. Lubritene supplies oils and greases for mining companies in South Africa and Australia, while Lubrasa sells food-grade lubes. Mannheim, Germany-based Fuchs, the worlds largest independent lubricant marketer, did not reveal the amount it will pay for the acquisition, but it did say that Lubritene and Lubrasa had combined sales of 15 million (approximately U...

TPC Groups board approved funding towards the next engineering phase of a third polyisobutylene production unit at its Houston facility. PIBs are used as a chemical intermediate in lubricant additives and as base stocks in lubricants. The funding amount was not disclosed. In early 2013, TPC began an expansion effort to debottleneck existing PIB capacity and build additional capacity to meet customers current and future needs. The company supplies the chemical from its Houston plant, as well as f...

The Nigeria Automobile Technicians Associations endorsement of Nigerian blender Ammasco International Ltd.s lubricants under a recently reached agreement could be a first step towards more domestic independents gaining a larger shares of the nations lubricants market. The content of the memorandum of understanding, obtained by Lube Report, grants Ammasco the sole right to produce customized lubes for members of NATA throughout Nigeria. The association will emboss its logo on all Ammasco products...

Clean Harbors rerefining groups third party revenues were down slightly in the first quarter compared to year earlier, while Cosan Lubrificantes net revenues for the first quarter were up slightly from 2013s first quarter. Clean Harbors Norwell, Mass.-based Clean Harbors oil rerefining and recycling business segment reported $138 million in third party revenues for the first quarter, down 6 percent from $146.9 million in 2013s first quarter. The company also lists net intersegment revenue, which...