General Motors has switched the licensing fee on its Dexos global engine oil specification from a royalty on every gallon of Dexos sold to a flat annual fee based on an oil companys market share, a GM official confirmed to Lube Report. Originally, licensees were to have paid a $1,000 annual fee for each product, plus a royalty of 36 cents on every gallon of Dexos they sell. Eric R. Johnson of General Motors Powertrain, North America, said his company made the change to a flat annual fee in res...

Heritage-Crystal Clean on Monday outlined plans for a new rerefinery in Indiana that would begin production in 2012 of about 2,000 barrels per day of API Group II base oil. The project has an estimated capital cost of $40 million. Elgin, Ill.-based Heritage-Crystal Clean, which provides parts cleaning and waste services, currently sells the used oil it collects as fuel to electric utilities and asphalt plants. The companys management team includes former Safety-Kleen executives and engineers wi...

In response to fierce disapproval from the auto industry, the American Petroleum Institute has sharpened its pencil and redrawn the definitions for its proposed API SN and SN Resource Conserving passenger car engine oil categories. The toughened standard now must be balloted by the entire API Lubricants Committee, with no firm guarantee it will succeed. The Lubricants Committee had been striving for a first-licensing date of Oct. 1, but until the ballot passes that also remains in doubt. API SN...

Shell Lubricants signed a regional lubricants distribution agreement with Mobis to supply Shell Helix oil products to Hyundai car dealers and consumers in the Middle East, Africa, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Under the three-year agreement, Mobis Middle East FZE will distribute Shell Helix HX5 AH, developed for Hyundai petrol and diesel engine cars. Mobis is a spare parts distributor for Hyundai and Kia motors in the regions. The appeal to tie up with Mobis was to leverage [its] existin...

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – When a consumer sees your motor oil package on the retail shelf, in less than 3 seconds hell decide to reach or pass. How does your label stand up to that moment of truth, a packaging expert asks. Labels must connect with your customer, create shelf impact, enhance your brand, create a consistent message across the globe, and drive cost efficiencies. All in 2.6 seconds, Laura Clark, director of marketing with Avery Dennison, told the Petroleum Packaging Council Spri...

Pilot will raise prices for surfactants used in metalworking fluids, Oxea plans to increase prices for solvents, and Albemarle has outlined a price hike for antioxidants used in lubricant applications. In response to escalating raw material costs, Cincinnati-based specialty chemical supplier Pilot said it will increase list and off-list prices effective April 15, or as contracts allow, on a wide variety of surfactants. That includes increases of 4 to 7.5 cents per pound on Aristonate sulfonate...