Italmatch Chemicals announced it has entered into an agreement with Afton Chemical for the acquisition of Afton's metalworking fluid business (former Polartech). The deal includes the acquisition of the entire business and assets relating to metalworking fluid carried out in Bedford Park, Illinois and Manchester, UK sites, as well as business in India and China.

Sales for the Afton Chemical for the first quarter of 2018 were $586.9 million, up 8.7% versus the same period last year. Operating profit for the first quarter of 2018 was $84.1 million, an 11.8% decrease over first quarter last year of $95.4 million. The company posted record shipments in the first quarter of 2018, with a slight improvement over the same period last year, which was the company's prior record for quarterly shipments.

Shell last week signed an agreement to sell its Downstream business in Argentina, including its lubricants business, to Raízen for US$ 950 million. The sale includes the Buenos Aires Refinery (which contains a lube base oil plant), around 645 retail stations, liquefied petroleum gas, marine fuels, aviation fuels, bitumen, chemicals and lubricants businesses, as well as supply and distribution activities in the country.

South Korea’s SK Innovation disclosed last Friday that it filed for cancellation of the listing procedure with the Financial Supervisory Service of its 1.56 trillion won (US$1.48 billion) IPO for SK Lubricants after the two-day book building session on April 25 and 26 failed to meet pricing expectations.

Last week, Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron all reported increased first quarter earnings. Shell reported a 42% rise in profits in the first quarter of 2018, its highest in over three years. ExxonMobil's first quarter 2018 net income was up 16%, while Chevron's earnings were up 33% compared with the first quarter of 2017.

Univar Canada Ltd., a subsidiary of Univar Inc. along with Boss Lubricants, announced an energy and mining markets distribution agreement last week for Western Canada. Boss Lubricants is one of Canada's largest independent lubricant manufacturers and wholesale suppliers of lubricants, glycols and greases.

• Chevron Increased Prices of Its USGC 100R and 220R by 20 CPG and 600R by 10 CPG, Effective April 25, 2018
• Ergon to Increase Prices of Naphthenic Oils in North American by 20 CPG, Effective May 2, 2018
• Cross Oil to Increase All Naphthenic Base Oil Prices by 20 CPG Effective May 7, 2018
• Calumet to Increase All Its Naphthenic Base Oil Prices by 20 CPG, Effective May 9, 2018
• API SN Plus Licensing Begins Tomorrow May 1, 2018
• Quest Resource Holding Corporation Brings its Used Motor Oil Recycling Program to Shell Lubricant Customers