The European Commission on January 16 approved the acquisition by Lukoil of OMV's non-retail lubricant business which produces and distributes automotive and industrial lubricants to non-retail customers. In June 2013, OMV signed an agreement to sell its lubricants business to Lukoil, including a modern 35,000 tpa lube blending plant in Vienna.

GE Oil & Gas and Houston-based Cameron last week announced that GE has agreed to acquire Cameron’s Reciprocating Compression division for $550 million. The division provides reciprocating compression equipment and aftermarket parts and services for oil and gas production, gas processing, gas distribution and independent power industries.

Kline & Company announced last Friday the publication of the monthly Kline Base Stock Margin Index, which simulates cash margins of typical U.S. base oil producers over the past two years. The index estimates typical cash margin contributions associated with U.S. Group II base stock production from both virgin base stock plants and re-refineries.

Alabama Green Lubricants has announced a $49 million re-refinery project for Childersburg Industrial Park, to be operational by mid 2015. The re-refinery will process approximately 32 million gallons per year of used oil, producing approximately 23 million gallons per year of lube base oil.

Shell has issued an update on its expected 2013 results. Fourth quarter 2013 figures are expected to be significantly lower than recent levels of profitability. Fourth quarter 2013 CCS earnings are expected to be approximately $2.2 billion, and full year 2013 CCS earnings are expected to be approximately $16.8 billion.

ExxonMobil Aviation announced last week that it’s Mobil Jet™ Oil 387, a synthetic High Performance Capability (HPC) turbine engine oil, has secured Rolls-Royce’s approval for use in Rolls-Royce’s Trent 1000, Trent 900 and Trent XWB engines used to power Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner and Airbus’ A380 and A350.