Total Lubricants announces Kubota UK partnership

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total Lubricants (UK) has announced a new partnership with Kubota UK, manufacturer of industrial engines and machines for agricultural, groundcare and construction equipment, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Under the long-term agreement, Total has developed a range of approved lubricant and grease products to meet the specifications of Kubota-branded equipment.

Total will also provide ongoing technical, sales and marketing support to Kubota across its nationwide network of UK and ROI dealers.

French oil and gas major Total has made a final investment decision to expand its Texas Bayport Polymers joint venture to double polyethylene production capacity to around 1.1 million tonnes a year.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The powertrain unit of automotive parts supplier Magna International Inc. is selling its global fluid pressure and controls (FP&C) business to Hanon Systems, a South Korea-based global supplier of thermal and energy management systems for USD1.23 billion, said Canplastics.

Magna’s global FP&C business specializes in the design, manufacture and supply of mechanical and electronic pumps, electronic cooling fans, and other components. The business reported sales of USD1.4 billion in 2017.

The business’s approximately 4,200 workers across 10 facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia will transition to Hanon Systems.

"With this transaction, Magna’s powertrain business will continue to focus on bringing power to the wheels as a full-system supplier of transmission and other driveline-related systems, including electrified versions," Aurora, Ont.-based Magna said in a statement.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- In a move that adds six manufacturing locations to its operations, packaging supplier Rohrer Corp. has acquired retail packaging manufacturer Transparent Container for an undisclosed amount, said Canplastics.

Headquartered in Addison, Ill., Transparent Container designs and manufactures blister and club packaging, clamshells, and printed plastic and paperboard folding cartons.

"This acquisition provides [us] with additional thermoforming capacity, expanded product range, and the largest combination run program for printed and thermoformed visual packaging products in the world, all under Rohrer’s ezCombo program," Rohrer said in a statement.

Rohrer is headquartered in Wadsworth, Ohio; the company was founded in 1973. Transparent Container’s chairman Dan Greiwe and president Scott Greiwe will be staying with the company as advisory board members. With this acquisition, the combined Rohrer and Transparent Container organization will be made up of more than 1,000 employees, with 11 manufacturing facilities across North America.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Corp wants to build or buy a refinery along the US Gulf Coast to process crude oil from its rapidly growing Permian Basin operations, reported Reuters with reference to a senior executive's statement.

The company would like to have refining operations on the Houston Ship Channel, in the western part of the US Gulf, to complement an existing eastern Gulf refinery in Mississippi that makes lubricants and other materials, Pierre Breber, Chevron’s head of downstream and chemicals, said.

"Something on the ship channel side could make a lot of sense for our company," Breber said in an interview on the sidelines of the Oil & Money conference in London.

Chevron is a major oil producer in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico, the largest US oilfield. The company’s Permian production jumped 51 percent sequentially in the second quarter to 270,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. By expanding its refining capacity to Houston, Chevron would be able to process its Permian crude closer to where it is produced.

Most of Chevron’s refineries are in California and use a heavier type of crude than the light, sweet kind pumped from Permian shale wells.

"The ingredients to invest in the US Gulf are very sound," said Breber, who assumed his current role in 2016 and previously oversaw Chevron’s pipeline operations.

Rival Exxon Mobil Corp said last year it would invest USD20 billion on US Gulf refining projects.

The Houston Ship Channel links the busiest US petrochemical port to the Gulf of Mexico and is home to dozens of refineries and chemical facilities.

Mike Wirth, who became Chevron’s chief executive earlier this year, formerly ran the company’s refining arm and is widely seen by Wall Street as an advocate for expanding refining operations.

Separately, Berber said Chevron’s existing Mississippi refinery has seen shipments from Venezuela drop 25 percent to 75,000 barrels per day over the last two years. Chevron is the only remaining major US oil producer in the strife-torn country.

As MRC wrote before, in May 2018, Chevron Products Company, a division of Chevron USA Inc., and Novvi LLC announced that they entered into an agreement to jointly develop and bring to market novel renewable base oil technologies. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation. One of the successor companies of Standard Oil, it is headquartered in San Ramon, California, and active in more than 180 countries. Chevron is engaged in every aspect of the oil, natural gas, and geothermal energy industries, including hydrocarbon exploration and production; refining, marketing and transport; chemicals manufacturing and sales; and power generation.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Canadian vehicle purchases dropped by 7.4 per cent year-over-year (y/y) in September for a seventh consecutive month of year-on-year declines and the market’s steepest y/y contraction since 2009, a new report from Scotiabank says, as per Canplastics.

According to Scotiabank’s latest Auto News Flash, at an annualised pace of 1.97 million units sold on average each month during Q3 2018, quarterly sales averaged under 2.0 million units on a seasonally-adjusted annualised basis for the first time since Q4 2016. "A decline in business and consumer confidence between August and September, as reflected in survey readings, appears to be behind the drop in sales during the month,” the report said. “However, given the absence of other economic indicators for the month, it is still too early to tell what caused Canadians to hit pause on vehicle purchases. If it were a transitory issue, sales should bounce back in October on the basis of our broader macroeconomic forecast."

In the U.S., meanwhile, auto sales jumped to an annualised level of 17.36 million units in September supported by dealer inventory clear-outs of 2018 models, beating expectations for 17.0 million units sold.

"Last month’s print follows two consecutive months of sub-17 million vehicle deliveries for an average of 16.9 million vehicle purchases in the third quarter," Scotiabank said. "This marks the lowest quarterly performance since Q2 2017, and a decline from average sales levels of 17.1 million and 17.2 million units in the first and second quarters of 2018, respectively."

Scotiabank continues to expect U.S. vehicle sales to continue on a downward trajectory through year-end for an annual total of just over 17 million units sold in 2018. "Purchases contracted heavily by 5.9 per cent y/y from a high base last September that was generated by vehicle replacement demand following Hurricane Harvey’s landfall in the U.S. Gulf Coast,” the report said. “The Detroit Three automakers saw a combined drop of 7.5 per cent y/y, although Fiat-Chrysler’s (FCA) unit sales exceeded Ford’s for the first time since January 2016 while GM remains the king of Motor City."

Across all automakers, truck sales in the U.S. rose by 6.2 per cent y/y compared to a 17.5 per cent decline in car purchases, Scotiabank said.
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