Nearly 200 lubricant marketers and manufacturers were in attendance at the LUBE DAY conference in Reno on September 19. According to many, the conference provided them with the first truly independent appraisal of where the lubricants business is and where it's heading.

Specifics about the conference and insights and commentary on some rather controversial statements made about private label and the value of branded lubricants and others will be provide in an upcoming SPECIAL EDITION of Jobbers World News Briefs.

According to a number of lubricant marketers, the cards and letter started to arrive last week and it has not been pretty. Most say the same thing and its about allocation.

Shell for example, notified its marketers late last week that effective September 19, 2005, orders for certain SOPUS lubricants will be limited (in other words allocated). This action was reportedly taken as a direct result of Hurricane Katrina’s impact on Chevron Oronite’s Oak Point lubricant and fuel additive manufacturing facility in Belle Chasse, La. This plant is a key supplier of additives to SOPUS and, as discussed in last week’s Jobbers World News Brief, Oronite declared Force Majeure due to damage done to the plant by the storm.

On September 15, ConocoPhillips informed its marketers that it will be passing along increased freight rates and implementing an additional “temporary fuel surcharge.”

Jobbers World was told that the freight rate increases will impact bulk product out of Los Angeles, McKees Rock, and Rochester plants. On top of that, CP will also implement a “temporary fuel surcharge” for all ConocoPhillips arranged bulk truck and package truck orders sourced from any of its plants.

In what appears to be an effort by ConocoPhillips to assure that its marketers remain whole on DFOA business, marketers say ConocoPhillips will increase the freight reimbursements on buybacks and temporarily increasing buyback fees by $0.05 a gallon to offset the temporary fuel surcharge.

According to several marketers, Valvoline recently thinned the ranks of its field sales reps by close to 15 people. In addition, it announced a price increase on bulk of $0.28 a gallon set to take affect on October 24.

In the views of some marketers, this increase is not unexpected and may be no more than an effort by Valvoline to "catch up" with the rest of the pack since Valvoline did not put through a bulk price increase the last time most other majors did.

Citgo reportedly announced across the board price increases of $0.35 a gallon set to take affect on October 3. The price of synthetics are said to be increasing $0.48 a gallon at that time as well.

It what some marketers say may be good "thinking ahead" by CITGO, CITGO has reportedly cancelled its marketers meeting set for next week due to uncertainties associated with Hurricane Rita's impact on its Lake Charles facility.

According to JW's sources, while the rest of the world was glued to the television set last week trying to figure out where and when Rita was going to hit, many of Castrol's sales reps were attending a meeting held by Castrol and trying to figure out where and when they might get hit.

Why? Because, according to our sources, Castrol notified its sales reps at last week's meeting that they will need to reapply for their jobs. In the views of several Jobbers World spoke with, this can only mean one thing - Head count reductions.

In Jobbers World's view, it's interesting stuff when both Castrol and Valvoline appear to be making moves to reduce headcount.

Learn more about it and what it might mean by subscribing to the full print version of Jobbers World.

Letters reportedly went out on September 23 notifying Chevron marketers that Chevron will increase its prices for lubricants by 5 to 8% affective October 24. Subscribe to the full print version of Jobbers World for complete details.