Royal Dutch Shell is looking to sell its 75% stake in Chinese lubricants joint venture Tongyi in a deal that could bring up to $500 million, as it sheds assets. The company has started a sale process for its 75% stake with bids expected to come in between $350 million and $500 million, according to people familiar with the situation.

Castrol has announced the renewal of their global aftersales lubricant contract with Jaguar Land Rover, extending their long established relationship. Castrol will also continue to supply Jaguar Land Rover’s factory fill requirements. In the aftermarket, Castrol EDGE Professional is the only oil exclusively recommended by Jaguar Land Rover.

Hengli Petrochemical Refinery Co. said it plans to build a 683,000 metric tons per year API Group II and III base oils plant in Changxing Island, Dalian, China. Chevron Lummus Global has been awarded a contract by Hengli Petrochemical for the technology license, engineering services and catalyst supply of the grassroots lube oil production unit.

Lubrizol announced it is investing $65 million to expand its lubricant additive blending plant operations in Deer Park, Texas. Of that amount, $28 million will be invested to improve blending efficiency and increase capacity. An additional $37 million will provide infrastructure improvements to railcar loading and unloading operations and enhance tank truck and isotainer handling.

Global rubber consumption, which has increased at a CAGR of over 2% in the last two years, is expected to accelerate in the next 5 to 10 years due to rising demand for tire and other rubber goods driving rubber process oil (RPO) demand. The global RPO market in 2013 is estimated close to 3 million tons according to the recently published report by Kline & Company.

• Calumet Reduces Prices of Its Naphthenic Base Oils by 20 CPG, Effective December 16
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• Intertek Launches TurbineCHECK, a Global Turbine Lubricant Testing Service