Transport Topics has issued its 2014 lists of the 100 largest for-hire trucking fleets in North America (UPS, FedEx, J.B. Hunt, Con-way and YRC Worldwide, in that order, are the top five this year) and the 100 largest private trucking fleets (Pepsico, Sysco Systems, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Wal-Mart and US Foods, in that order, are the top five this year).

Ergon Refining, Inc. last Tuesday announced plans for a $150 million expansion at its Vicksburg, Mississippi specialty naphthenic base oil refinery. The upgrades will include enhancements to the refinery’s crude distillation unit, modifications to its base oil hydrotreaters, and an expansion of its terminal tank farm to support new product offerings.

The U.S. has been the largest lubricant consuming country market in the world, although its market share is falling. The U.S. used to account for 25%, and has now dipped below 22%. China is expected by 2017/18 to surpass the U.S. to become the largest lubricant consuming country market, according to Kline & Company’s "Global Lubricants: Market Analysis and Assessment".

Used oil re-refiner Heritage-Crystal Clean last Thursday announced that its subsidiary Heritage, Crystal Clean, LLC, has acquired FCC Environmental, an environmental services provider and a collector of used oil in the United States, for total consideration of $90 million. The business was purchased from Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas S.A., based in Madrid, Spain.

Chemtura has announced that three of its major production sites, Elmira, Ontario, Canada; Latina, Italy and Kaohsiung, Taiwan, are now increasing capacity for its Naugalube® alkylated diphenyl amine (ADPA) liquid antioxidants to prevent predicted future shortages of antioxidants in the automotive petroleum additive industry worldwide.

• Ergon to Decrease Naphthenic Prices in North America by 15 CPG
• ExxonMobil Reduces Prices of Its Group I (CORE) 100 by 15 CPG, 150 by 31 CPG, 300 by 39 CPG, and 600 by 47 CPG, Effective October 13; No Change to Bright Stock Price. ExxonMobil Reduces Its Group II+ EHC45 by 15 CPG and EHC60 by 25 CPG Effective October 13
• Phillips 66 Reduces Prices of Its Group II Pure Performance 70N & 80N by 20 CPG, 110N by 15 CPG, 225N by 20 CPG and 600N by 40 CPG, Effective October 10; Phillips 66 Also Reduced Prices of Its Ultra-S2 and Ultra-S3 by 15 CPG and Ultra-S4 and Ultra-S8 by 13 CPG, Effective October 10
• Bhaskar Mukherjee, Automotive Market Manager, EAME Region, Chevron Oronite S.A.S., to Present "The Importance of Viscosity Index (VI) Improvers for Rheological Targets in Modern Lubricants"  at 2014 Annual Congress of the European Lubricants Industry
• Kline’s October Index of Base Stock Production and Re-refining Cash Margins Shows Pullback for VGO Refiners and Improved Returns for Re-refiners
• Neste Oil to Invest EUR 200 Million to Improve Production at Neste Oil Refineries in Finland
• Lubriplate Lubricants Company Achieves ISO 21469 Certification for All of Its NSF/H-1 Registered Food Machinery Lubricants