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Univar announced last Thursday that it will expand its relationship with Dow Chemical Company to include exclusive distribution rights for UCON™ Fluids and Lubricants in North America. This authorization for Univar will complement an already long-standing relationship between Dow and ChemPoint.com Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Univar.

Phillips 66, Motiva, Calumet, HollyFrontier, ExxonMobil and PBF (Paulsboro Refining) last week announced base oil price increases, their second or third of this year. Typical increases were in the 15 - 20 CPG range with effective dates ranging between February 13 - 21, 2018.

Saudi Aramco Base Oil Company (Luberef) announced last week that it has completed the upgrade and expansion of its base oil plant in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, and that it has started shipping its Group II lube base oils to customers in India.

The emergence of new distribution channels, such as e-commerce, electric vehicle mandates, the emerging ecosystem for industrial manufacturing or the so-called ‘industry 4.0,’ the increasing power of OEMs and other trends have the potential to transform the lubricants industry in the next 15 to 20 years.

• Sinclair Increases Prices of Finished Lubricants by up to 5% Effective March 1, 2018
• Pilot Chemical Names Glynn Goertzen VP of Corporate Development
• LogiLube and Flender Collaborate to Test SmartGear™ Platform
• SPL Acquires Business and Assets of Alcor Petrolab