Vertex Energy announced that it has begun due diligence of Heartland Group Holdings under the terms of a letter of intent which contemplates Vertex acquiring substantially all of the assets of Heartland Group for $16.5 million. Heartland owns a used oil re-refinery in Columbus, OH where it processes 16 million gallons annually of used oil into Group II lube base oil.

Japan’s Cosmo Oil announced last week that it plans to shut down its Chiba lube oil blending plant, which has an annual production capacity of 40,000 kiloliters. The company also announced that it signed a contract with TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K. subsidiary, EMG Marketing, to manufacture lubricants on its behalf at Tsurumi Lube Oil Blending Plant in Kanagawa.

Hydrodec Group said it has signed an engineering and license agreement and a technical collaboration agreement with Irvine, California-based Chemical Engineering Partners to plan and develop a 75 million litre per year UK lubricant oil re-refinery, capable of producing API Group II/II+ base oil, which it said has the potential to be operational during 2016.

Calumet last Wednesday reported a net loss for the second quarter ended June 30, 2014 of $8.3 million, compared to net income of $7.8 million in the second quarter 2013. Calumet generated Adjusted EBITDA of $39.3 million during the second quarter 2014 versus $70.0 million in the prior-year period.

Biobased lubricant manufacturer Environmental Lubricants Manufacturing recently announced that Dr. Lou A. T. Honary, Professor and Director emeritus at UNI-NABL Center has joined the ELM leadership team serving full time as Chairman and President. In addition, Mohammad (Moe) Souri, PhD joins ELM as the new Deputy Chief Technology Officer.

• HollyFrontier's 2Q Net Income Falls to $176.4 Million
• France's TOTAL Reports Second Quarter 2014 Adjusted Net Income Down 12 Percent
• Neste Oil Posts 2Q2014 Comparable Operating Profit of EUR 85 Million vs. 2Q/2013 Profit of EUR 88 Million
• Biofuels Power Corp Announces Plans to Build Gas-to-Liquids Pilot Plant in Houston, Texas
• RelaDyne Acquires Turbo Filtration Corporation of Mobile, AL