Lubrizol announced last week it has invested $20 million in its blending plant operations in Le Havre, France. The investment is aimed at helping Lubrizol to stay ahead of market needs as demand for low SAPS and high-tier engine-oil formulations are projected to increase requirements and complexity into the future.

Kaunas, Lithuania-based PMM Ltd, owner of Lubrita International, has started its operation in the Indian market, entering into 50:50 JV with its Indian partner Mumbai-based Sankalp Lubricants Pvt Limited. The JV comapny Lubrita India Private Limited will trademark Lubrita brand of products in India and other neighbouring countries.

ExxonMobil has signed a commercial agreement to have its High Performance Capability (HPC) synthetic jet engine oil, Mobil JetTM Oil 387, tested in all of Pratt & Whitney’s PurePower® engine models. Scheduled to begin in early 2015, the multi-year testing program will span the complete family of PurePower engines.

German transmission manufacturer Getrag has agreed to the joint development of dual clutch transmissions with its Chinese joint venture partner DongfengGetrag Transmission Co., Ltd. The joint venture, DongfengGetrag Transmission, will start the manufacturing of this dual clutch transmission for compact cars as of 2016 in Wuhan, China.

Thomas Norrby has joined Nynas as a Senior Technical Coordinator Naphthenics. He brings more than 16 years of experience in the lubricant industry, including working as R&D manager for Statoil Lubricants for most of that time. Norrby is also active as Affiliate Professor at the Department of Machine Design at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm.

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