Lubrizol
The Lubrizol Corporation is a provider of specialty chemicals for the transportation, industrial and consumer markets. These products include additives for engine oils and other transportation-related fluids, additives for industrial lubricants, and additives for gasoline and diesel fuel. In addition, Lubrizol makes ingredients and additives for personal care products, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, specialty materials, including plastics technology, and coatings in the form of specialty resins and additives.
Since 2011, Lubrizol has been a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. It generated $6.5 billion in revenue in 2016 and has an employee headcount of approximately 8,300 people globally. Eric R. Schnur is the current president, chairman and CEO.
History
The Lubrizol Corporation was founded in 1928 as The Graphite Oil Products Company in Cleveland, Ohio, by father Frank A. Nason and son Francis A. "Alex" Nason, Thomas W. James and brothers Kent H. Smith, Vincent K. Smith and A. Kelvin Smith. The company's first product was a graphite lubricant and applicator for early automobiles. In 1929, the company changed its name to The Lubri-Graph Corporation. It moved to Wickliffe, Ohio in 1931. In 1934, Lubri-Graph changed its name to The Lubri-Zol Corporation. The name changed to Lubrizol in 1943.The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in the 1960s. Toward the end of that decade, Lubrizol focused on developing products to help make cars cleaner and more fuel efficient. During the 1980s, the company created new additives for passenger motor oils, gear oils, hydraulic fluids and viscosity modifiers, while also eyeing biotechnology, agribusiness and specialty chemicals for other applications to expand beyond the transportation field.
Lubrizol acquired Noveon International in 2004 for 920 million in cash and the assumption of 920 million in debt. That move, along with others, helped Lubrizol expand beyond its additives business and create a second business segment, Lubrizol Advanced Materials, producing industrial chemicals for packaging, paints and textiles, chemicals for personal-care products such as lotions and shampoos, and additives and ingredients for engineered polymers, in addition to products for the medical devices and pharmaceutical markets.
Berkshire Hathaway announced on March 14, 2011 that it would acquire Lubrizol for 9.7 billion in cash. This happened just weeks after a top Berkshire executive, David Sokol, made a major bet on the stock price with his own money. That deal closed in September 2011. In December 2014, Lubrizol bought Weatherford International's engineered chemistry and drilling fluids businesses in a deal valued at 825 million. This resulted in creation of the company's third business segment, Lubrizol Oilfield Solutions.
The company announced that it eliminated Lubrizol Oilfield Operations business segment in February 2017.
Lubrizol's expansion in other areas of business in the 2000s included a 10-year phased investment plan launched in 2010. The plan, which sought to increase global capacity in additives, featured a plant in Zhuhai, China, among others. Additionally, the company expanded its life sciences unit with the announcement of a $60 million investment to expand its excipient, global polymer and contract manufacturing plants. The new facilities are expected to provide a flow through process for customers. Lubrizol took the majority stake in Lubrizol India Private Ltd., its Indian joint venture with Indian Oil Corp., in March 2017.
In April 2020, the company asked for Section 301 tariff relief for glutaraldehyde, which had 25% tariffs due to Trump's 2018 China–United States trade war. The company's relief application said it could be helpful as a disinfectant against COVID-19; the application made no mention of its use for fracking or the company's primary market being the oil industry.
Operations
The Lubrizol Corporation is broken down into two business segments, Lubrizol Additives and Lubrizol Advanced Materials.Lubrizol Additives
With Lubrizol Additives, the company supplies additives for transportation, including additives for lubricating engine oils, fuels and other chemicals, and industrial lubricants.Lubrizol Advanced Materials
Lubrizol Advanced Materials creates and sells specialty materials and chemicals used in consumer products for personal care, pharmaceutical and food industries; specialty materials under the TempRite, Hycar and Estane trademarks; and performance coatings under the trademarks Hycar, Sancure, Algan, Performax and Myflam.Lubrizol had operated Lubrizol Oilfield Solutions, an oilfield chemicals and drilling fluids business, following the 2014 acquisition of Weatherford International businesses. Bloomberg reported in February 2017 that Lubrizol eliminated the oilfield solutions business segment.
Industrial accidents
- See :fr:Incendie de l'usine Lubrizol à Rouen
- In 1975 and 1989, two incidents result in the emission of mercaptans.
- On April 16, 2003, a fire damaged the facilities of the Oudalle factory without causing any casualties.
- On January 21, 2013, an incident occurred at the Lubrizol plant located in Rouen : the chemical decomposition of a zinc dialkyldithiophosphate tank resulted in the emission of a cloud of gas composed of a cocktail of mercaptans, whose odor was perceptible far beyond the Rouen site by several hundred thousand people, the plume from south of London to the Paris region. The hazard study had modeled the risk of decomposition of zinc dialkyldithiophosphate, a risk also taken into account in the development of the PPRT: according to this modeling, H2S can be emitted. This decomposition is also a source of large quantities of mercaptans, gases known to be not very toxic but whose olfactory threshold is very low. The genes or headaches related to this type of event have not been integrated in the PPRT, but must be included in emergency plans. After analyzing the accident, corrective measures were submitted to CODERST and then imposed on the factory via a prefectural order. These measures are: better monitoring of the temperature of the adjustment tanks, new automatic safety systems, an analysis of the stirring and refrigeration needs of the tanks, new monitoring tools process, manufacturing and alarm, an improved process of response in case of decomposition, improvement of the measurement system of mercaptans in the stack and finally the resizing of the system treating releases to the air in case of decomposition. The implementation of these measures was verified by the DREAL on June 11 and 12, 2013. The invisible but fragrant plume of mercaptans was retrospectively modeled.
- On September 3, 2019, a fire broke out at the Lubrizol plant in Oudalle, near Le Havre. 50 firefighters and 12 vehicles were mobilized.
- On September 26, 2019, explosions and a fire impacted the company’s manufacturing site in Rouen, France, in addition to a neighboring site. 240 firefighters and 200 vehicles were mobilized, including some from Paris. The authorities ordered the evacuation of the population within a radius of 500 meters around the factory, closed schools of the surrounding municipalities, and later recommended not having direct contact with the soot or eating the crops and food products exposed to it. The company created a public web page to share more on this event.
Acquisitions and partnerships