All the main regions, with the exception of Asia have seen slightly less new business compared to the previous week. For the most part though, rates have either stayed unchanged, or are a little stronger. U.S. Gulf The so-called meat and potato routes from the U.S. Gulf to the Far East have not really experienced much activity this week. These would normally consist of 5,000-ton parcels of styrene or benzene, toulene, and xylene into Korea or China, but all these products are in tight supply in ...

Saudi Aramco announced Thursday the launch of a base oil marketing business, marking its shift to an active supplier rather than a somewhat passive base oil investor. The oil titan said it will offer API Group I, II and III base stocks but did not identify their sources. Photo: Ali Jarekji/Newscom Saudi Aramco will soon be marketing aramcoDura, aramcoPrima and aramcoUltra as their brand name base oils. We are very excited to launch our base oils brands and intend to streamline our base oils st...

LONDON – The process for developing automotive engine oil specifications has been a hot topic for the past several years. Many in the lubricants industry have begun to question the efficacy of a system that is consuming more and more resources, in terms of both cost and time. As consultant Brian Crichton noted, The absolute cost of bringing a product to market today is extremely high, and the ability to recoup those costs is extremely iffy. In chairing a panel discussion on the topic at th...

Fuchs Petrolub SE and Cosans lubricant production and distribution arm – renamed Moove last year – reported increased profits and sales for 2016. Mannheim, Germany-based Fuchs reported 260 million (U.S. $274.2 million) in profit after tax for 2016, a 10.1 percent increase from the previous year, according to provisional figures issued Feb. 16. Fuchs reported 2.3 billion in sales revenue for 2016, a 9 percent increase. Sales in Europe increased 15.5 percent to 1.4 billion. The indepen...

Japanese lubricant manufacturer Moresco Corp. will purchase U.S. blender AML Industries by May next year, the company announced in a press release last week. According to our medium-term plans, we are expanding into growing markets like North America. We plan to expand and strengthen our lubricant business in North America and the region, said the release. The company said it will strengthen its marketing, cost and other business systems to capture the expanding demand for automotive related spe...

Castrol created a joint venture with Romax Technologys InSight business, which provides condition monitoring and predictive maintenance services for wind turbines. In a news release, Castrol said the deal will combine its global reach and knowledge of wind turbine lubrication with Romax InSights expertise in predictive maintenance, software and data analytics for wind turbines. According to the announcement, Castrol will have a controlling interest in the InSight business, though the size of tha...