Lube Report 2 April 2014

April 2, 2014

Volume 14 Issue 14

Shell Ups Finished Lube Prices By George Gill • April 2, 2014 Shell Lubricants notified U.S. customers on Monday that prices for Shell brand finished lubricants will generally increase by up to 4 percent effective May 5. Read More Kline Sees Dark Clouds on Base Oil Horizon By Nancy DeMarco • April 2, 2014 Kline & Co. warns the base oil industry to prepare for substantial capacity rationalization and weak margins over the current decade, as demand growth slows and new capacity depresses the market. Read More ExMo Chem Launches High-vis PAO Plant By George Gill • April 2, 2014 ExxonMobil Chemical opened its new metallocene polyalphaolefin synthetic lubricant base stock plant at its Baytown, Texas complex, boosting the company’s global PAO capacity by 50,000 metric tons per year. Read More Fire Disrupts Ohio Blender By Joe Beeton • April 2, 2014 A fire last week at Fiske Brothers’ Toledo, Ohio, lubricants plant resulted in no injuries but caused approximately $8,000 in damages, according to the local fire department. Plant operators and fire crews quickly contained the blaze. Read More Turkish Lube Market Grows By Boris Kamchev • April 2, 2014 While Turkey’s lubricants market has sustained growth, it is still marred by illicit base oil trade despite government efforts to crack down, a Turkish oil industry association official said. Read More Briefly Noted April 2, 2014 Calumet Specialty Products Partners is acquiring Tulsa, Okla.-based Anchor Drilling Fluids USA’s parent company, ADF Holdings, for $235 million.  Houghton International completed its acquisition of Henkel’s North American Steel Mill business, including rolling oils, pickle oils, wet temper fluids and steel mill-specific cleaners.  Automotive parts company Chr. Kapodistrias & Sons will distribute Castrol products for BP Eastern Mediterranean Ltd. in Cyprus. Read More Base Oil Reports U.S. Base Oil Price Report The U.S. base oils market was dealt a full house in terms of posted price increases, with a number of players joining those producers who had stepped out with announcements earlier this month.–by Gabriela Wheeler Read More EMEA Base Oil Price Report Rising API Group I and Group II prices throughout the EMEA markets have stabilized at last week’s levels. Group l supplies from mainland suppliers are still tight, with Baltic avails still not forthcoming.–by Ray Masson Read More SSY Base Oil Shipping Report European markets may not be quite as firm as before, while Asian markets are steady and the U.S. continues to endure a shortage of cargoes and weak rates.–by Adrian Brown Read More