In a letter to its lubrication marketers dated December 19, Chevron announced a general posted price decrease for its lubricants, gear oils and greases by up to 3.5% for most SKU's, This change will be effective in the U.S. Marketer channel February 6, 2015. Coolants and fuel additives are excluded from the decrease.

This was the first price change announcement by the major oil companies since May/June of this year, when several suppliers announced a price increase, typically of the same level, i.e., 4% price increase, effective in June 2014.

Many individuals in the lube industry for the past month or so have been asking, with the price of crude oil, and lube base oil, dropping more than $1 per gallon since this past August, why have none of the majors announced a price decrease for finished lubricants. Well, now Chevron has put the ball in motion and announcements by the other oil companies can be expected.