Capital Southwest Corporation announced that its Board of Directors has approved a plan to spin-off Whitmore Manufacturing Company, which manufactures specialty lubricants primarily for heavy equipment, and Jet-Lube, which manufactures specialty lubricants used in oil field and industrial applications, into a standalone, publicly traded company.

Chevron Lubricants Lanka, Sri Lanka’s largest lubricant player, held a grand opening ceremony for its new state of the art lube blending plant and warehouse in Sapugaskanda last Thursday. The new facility has the capacity to produce 45,000 KL per year of finished lubricants. The modern warehouse has a 1.4 million litre storage capacity for raw material and finished products.

Lubrizol announced last Monday that it has signed an agreement to acquire Weatherford International’s oilfield chemicals business, known as Engineered Chemistry and its drilling fluids business, known as Integrity Industries. The former supplies additives and fluids for a range of oilfield activities while the latter manufactures drilling fluid systems.

BioAmber last Tuesday announced it has signed an exclusive supply agreement for bio-based succinic acid with Oleon. Under the terms of the 5-year contract, which runs from 2014 to the end of 2018, BioAmber Sarnia, a joint venture with Mitsui & Co., will supply Oleon with bio-based succinic acid for the development and production of succinate lubricants.

Pilot Logistics Services and Thomas Petroleum last Thursday announced the completion of their merger to form a premier provider of fuel, lubricants and chemical solutions to the North American energy, mining and marine industries. The combined organization will operate as Pilot Thomas Logistics, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.

According to local Oman news reports and confirmed to OEM/Lube News by Phillips 66 lube department management, Muscat, Oman-based Eint Automotive, the automotive aftermarket division of WJ Towell Group, is partnering with Phillips 66 to introduce the Kendall and 76 lubricant brands in Oman.

• Calumet Reduces Prices of Its (Group I) Calpar 600 by 10 CPG and Its Calpar 2500 (150BS) by 20 CPG, Effective December 4
• HollyFrontier Reduces Prices of Its (Group I) SN70 through SN300, SN500 and SN600 by 10 CPG, and Its 150BS by 20 CPG, Effective December 1
• Ergon to Reduce Naphthenic Base Oil Prices in North America by 20 CPG Effective December 8
• 3-Day Strike Reduces Lube Base Oil Output at Total's Gonfreville Refinery
• Lubrizol Enables Preparation for Spec Upgrades
• Petromin to Represent Houghton International in Saudi Arabia
• Western Marketing Receives Highest Chevron Lubricant Recognition Three Years Running
• Houghton International Acquires Envirotek Management Services Inc.
• RelaDyne Launches Online Customer Ordering and Account Management