It has been another encouraging week in the U.S. market with improved volumes recorded on several key routes. Asian markets are running smoothly, whereas Europe had a much quieter week overall. U.S. Gulf Falling commodity prices in the U.S. finally allowed the arbitrage to open wide enough for traders to shift a substantial amount of cargo from the U.S. Gulf to Asia over the past week. Paraxylene and mixed xylenes are perhaps the most active products, but there have been fixtures of styrene, phe...

PASCAGOULA, Miss. – Advancing motor oil specifications and quality standards made now the right time for Chevron to launch its 25,000 barrels per day API Group II base oil plant here, Chevron Lubricants president said at a commissioning event Aug. 21. Key Chevron leaders and Mississippi government officials, including Miss. Gov. Phil Bryant, spoke at a breakfast reception Aug. 21 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Pascagoula, part of the commissioning event. The plant began shipping base oil in J...

A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences National Research Council upheld the listing of formaldehyde as known to be a human carcinogen in the National Toxicology Program 12th Report on Carcinogens. Industry sources say it will be some time before its clear what impact that could have on formaldehyde releasing biocides in the metalworking fluids industry. The committee that wrote the Research Council report found that the listing is supported by sufficient evidence from human studie...

Bureau Veritas, a French standards testing and certification firm, acquired U.S.-based oil analysis and condition monitoring specialists Analysts Inc. earlier this month. Terms were not disclosed. As of Aug. 1, Bureau Veritas purchased and took full ownership of Analysts. Analysts will keep its name and continue to operate as before, with no changes to its business structure or operations, the Hawthorne, Calif.-based testing and analysis services company said in a recent press release. Bureau Ve...

Russias Gazprom Neft Lubricants and Rostselmash, a major manufacturer of agricultural machinery, introduced a line of new lube products. Branded as Rostselmash G-Profi, the product line is intended for use in the contemporary agricultural machinery and consists of motor, transmission and hydraulic oils, as well as greases and coolants. These products are resistant to high temperatures and characterized by detergent properties, and dont need to be changed as frequently as heavy duty vehicle oils,...