METUCHEN, NJ, April 8 --The Petroleum Quality Institute of America (PQIA) announced today that CITGO Petroleum and CAM2 have signed on as Platinum Sponsors to the Petroleum Quality Institute of America.

Along with CITGO's commitment as a Platinum Sponsor, David Kunkel, Manager - Marketing and Product Management for CITGO Petroleum, told PQIA "All of us have a stake in helping to ensure the continued consistent quality of finished lubricants in the marketplace. We appreciate your efforts in coming forward and leading this initiative."

Garry Rooney, Senior VP, Special Projects and Opportunity Development with CAM2 shared similar views when he said "We are excited to work with the PQIA organization in its attempt to bring integrity, clarity, and sanity to the lubricants marketplace."

PQIA welcomes the Sponsorship of CITGO and CAM2, in joining Warren Oil as Platinum Level Sponsors. "We are pleased to have CITGO and CAM2 as new Platinum Sponsors and we welcome their interest in supporting PQIA's efforts to serve consumers and commercial and industrial lubricants end users (their customer's) through education, testing, and reporting on the quality and integrity of lubricants in the market," says Thomas Glenn, president of PQIA. Glenn adds, "We are encouraged by the support of Warren Oil, CITGO, and CAM2, we encourage other lubricant manufacturers, marketers, and other industry stakeholders to join in our efforts to help ensure the quality of lubricants in the market."

Glenn also noted that the test results on the latest batch of products examined by PQIA are in and will be made available on the PQIA website later next week.

About The Petroleum Quality Institute of America: The Petroleum Quality Institute of America is an independent resource for information and insights on the quality and performance of lubricants in the marketplace. The institute's mission is to serve the consumer of lubricants by reporting on the quality and integrity of lubricants in the marketplace.

A significant number of marketers JobbersWorld speaks with say lubricant sales took a surprising and welcomed jump in March. Whereas the increase may not signal a recovery, many say they are hopeful the recession driven declines in demand seen over the past 2 years has run its course. In the words of one marketer, "a spring thaw in lubricant demand may be underway."

At the same time, most marketers remain cautiously optimistic because most of the increases in demand came from the consumer automotive side of the business. This includes demand by fast lubes, new car dealers, and retail outlets. Historically these segments typically do better in the spring.

Although there was an up tick in demand in the commercial and industrial segments of the business, it was far less pronounced and somewhat less encouraging than marketers report in the consumer automotive segment.

As reported in the January 19th issue of JobbersWorld, Chevron Corp. announced it plans to shrink its refining business in a move that will cut jobs throughout the company. And according to Chevron's spokesman Lloyd Avram, Chevron's refining business will be "a less complex and smaller organization that will require fewer positions,"

From what JobbersWorld is hearing, the impact of the "less complex smaller organization" on Chevron's marketers will be assessed in the upcoming weeks following what its marketers anticipate will be announcements made by Chevron in the next two weeks about changes to its lubricants business. And in their view, Chevron's reorganization will likely prove to be the biggest they have seen in decades. Because of this, many marketers are asking the same questions.

The first is, "How will the reorganization impact the number of marketers Chevron does business with?" Although Chevron has made no secret about its efforts to rationalize marketers, many wonder if the new organization will work to accelerate the process.

A second question commonly asked is "Will the Chevron managers we have been working with for years still have a position in the new organization?" And if not, "Will pushing restart on these relationships (in many cases long and strong relationships) help or hurt the organization and its marketer's interactions/relationships with Chevron?" Until these and other questions about Chevron's reorganization are answered, some marketers say are in a holding pattern with regards to their commitment to Chevron.

Like many Chevron marketers, JobbersWorld is also sitting on the edge of its chair waiting to hear about and report on the details of Chevron's reorganization and what it means for Chevron and its marketers. Stay tuned, we will keep you posted.

ExxonMobil Chemical announced that their Synesstic(TM) Alkylated Naphthalene (AN) Basestock Fluids product line is now available for use as lubricant basestock fluids with incidental food contact.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Food Contact Notification filings, FCN 915 and 899, associated with the two Synesstic(TM) AN basestock fluids grades 5 cSt and 12 cSt respectively. In addition, Synesstic(TM) AN basestock fluids are HX-1 National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) registered.

To learn more, visit www.exxonmobilsynthetics.com

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