On November 7, CITGO advised its marketers that it will implement a general price increase of $0.28 a gallon to be effective on December 4, 2006. The increase was said to affect CITGO and Mystik-branded finished lubricants. It will apply to all package types, including bulk.

Light, camera, and action! According to some marketers in attendance at ConocoPhillips annual marketers meeting last week, ConocoPhillips literally treated its marketers like stars. The venue was Opry Town / Music City USA, otherwise known as Nashville, TN for those who were born well after Elvis was King.

Marketers say the opening ceremonies made them understand what it feels like to be nominated for an academy award. A “stars marquee” welcomed them when they arrived, and ConocoPhillips literally rolled out the red carpet for its marketers. The “stars” theme continued from there with other activity reminiscent of Hollywood, including film clips of its marketers in action leading right up to and including their participation at the meeting.

In the words of several marketers JobbersWorld spoke with last week, it was good stuff and it made them feel like the focus was on them. These marketers said that rather than walking into and away from the meeting feeling like it was just one of many where the majors talk about themselves and what they will be doing, and giving “lip service” to their marketer’s questions, this meeting was different. ConocoPhillips focused on its marketers and why ConocoPhillips is the one to grow with. In addition, rather than avoiding sensitive issues, Tom Liberti, general manager, ConocoPhillips Lubricants, along with others, reportedly faced market realities straight up (including the hit it took from hurricanes last year).

Beyond being simply an excellent example of well orchestrated feel good theatrics, preliminary feedback from marketers indicated there was real substances to what ConocoPhillips had to say. Moreover, they felt there was meaning to ConocoPhillips treating its marketers like stars. In the words of several marketers, the message was simple – ConocoPhillips really values its marketers and is working hard to assure its the best company for them to do business with.

It should be noted that this is preliminary feedback and there was some concerns (albeit few) expressed that Jobbers World will probe deeper into. Additional details on the meeting will be published later this week in the print issue of Jobbers World.

Word on the street for the past few months is that ExxonMobil would be trimming its field sales staff by an estimated 20% by the end of the year. Although it’s hard to say if the 20% rumor is over or under, or even real, one thing for certain is that there appears to be some pruning underway. Several marketers say their ExMo sales reps stopped by to show them their ExMo parting gifts and to bid them adieu.

Based on what Jobbers World is hearing there are at least eight ExMo sales reps who have been impacted by recent efforts to rationalize field sales. In the views of some marketers such leaning may be a necessary evil if ExMo wants to take it to the next level. And although there will be causualties, they say it will make both them and ExMo stronger moving forward.

Royal Manufacturing Company, a Tulsa, OK based manufacturer of fluid lubricants and greases, is pleased to announce Steve Humphreys as the company’s Director of Technical Services. Steve comes to Royal with nearly 20 years experience in the lubricants industry and over 15 years experience in lubricant and grease development and formulating.

As Technical Director, Steve will service our customers by leading our quality control program, directing all research and development activities and lending technical assistance to operations and production.

In addition to his practical experience, Steve holds a BS degree in both Chemistry and Mathematics and recently earned an MBA. On top of that, he has taught both chemistry and math at the high school level.

Jim Gott, General Manager of Royal, says “... Steve will be a great asset to our technical team. In addition to his experience as a tribologist, he possesses great hands on experience with all phases of lubricants...”

Royal and affiliate companies have been in operation since 1914 providing quality lubricants for off highway, industrial and heavy equipment users.