Oil Marketers Brace Themselves for Lubricant Price Increases Recently we received notification from some of our major and private label oil manufacturers that a 3rd round of lubricant price increases for finished lubricants are coming, beginning July and August of 2018. Notifications continue to trickle in, but as of... Read More +
Leer en EspañolWhat Is Lidar Technology By now you have most likely heard the word Lidar, an acronym for light detection and ranging and based on the combined words “light” and “radar.” Lidar technology is a growing surveying technology that measures the distance between a central point and a target by pulsing a... Read More +
An Interview with Bob Greider of Greider Precision When it comes to building high tech components and equipment, precision manufacturing matters, and if anyone can stand by that claim it is Bob Greider of Greider Precision. For the past 40 years he and his wife Virginia have manufactured specialized components... Read More +
In a previous SCL article, California Fuel Tax Increase, we spoke with SC Fuels Tax Manager, Royd Baik about the impacts of Senate Bill 1, also referred to as SB1 – The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017. Last year SB1 proposed a $0.12 per gallon excise tax increase... Read More +
Carbon – The King of Elements The element carbon – number 14 on the periodic table – is the 15th most abundant element on planet Earth and the fourth most abundant element within the universe next to hydrogen, helium and oxygen. Derived from the Latin word carbo, meaning “coal,” carbon... Read More +
According to energy.gov, shale energy development is one of the fastest growing trends in US domestic energy exploration and production, and the American Fuel and Chemical Manufacturers (AFPM) state that “The shale energy revolution has resulted in a dramatic change in energy production in the US. Today, an unprecedented supply and... Read More +
Finished Lubricants Price Increase With the continued rise of raw material costs that impact the manufacturing, processing and delivery of finished lubricants, a 2nd round of price increases are expected by all major manufacturers by as early as April 23, 2018. According to Jobbers World, price increases on finished lubricant... Read More +
How Will Proposed AB 1745 Affect California’s Motor Vehicle Industry District 19 (San Francisco) Assemblyman Phil Ting dropped a bomb on Californians this January with his introduction of AB 1745 – the Clean Cars 2040 Act, which if implemented will require all passenger vehicles sold after January 1st, 2040 to be... Read More +
A $0.25 Federal Gas Tax is Being Proposed as Part of Trillion Dollar Infrastructure Plan In an effort to augment the White House’s $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan, this past February President Donald Trump reportedly introduced a federal tax on both gasoline and diesel to the tune of 25 cents per... Read More +
Virgin, Recycled, Re-Refined Oil Not all oil is created equal, and contrary to popular belief, recycled or re-refined oils are not “dirty,” or lesser in quality than pure, virgin or newly produced oil. It is also often assumed that recycled, refurbished and re-refined oils are the same product, so below... Read More +
Multiple Factors Contribute to Fluctuations In general, economic markets rise and fall like the tides. Sometimes spiking quickly, sometimes slowly rolling over long periods of time. The crude oil market is no different. Throughout the past five decades, oil availability has ebbed and flowed. This is often the result of... Read More +
Beginning April 1st, if Not in Compliance With the ELD Mandate Rule, Drivers Can Be Placed Out of Service On December 18th, 2017, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) implemented a 2-year “Phased-In Compliance Phase” as part of their Electronic Logging Device – ELD Mandate Rule, first published February... Read More +
How the World’s #1 Rideshare App is Utilizing Self-Driving Trucks Roughly 15.5 million trucks in operation in the United States. 2 million of these trucks are tractor trailers and are operated by nearly 3.5 million truck drivers. At the helm of one of America’s most iconic occupations, the trucking industry... Read More +
Federal Oil Spill Fee – Tax Reinstated – What You Can Expect In our efforts to best serve our valued customers, we strive to keep you up to date as much as possible with industry trends and changes. As of March 1st, 2018, the Federal Environmental Oil Spill fee, previously... Read More +
As Disruptive Technologies Such as Electric Vehicles Enter the Mainstream Market, Scientists and Economists Speculate on the Pending Challenges That Oil and Gas Face In an essay written by scientist, inventor and entrepreneur, Seth Miller, in his blog focused on “science, technology, and navigating an uncertain future,” Miller proposes a... Read More +
Who in California doesn’t love an ice-cold beer? According to the California Craft Brewers Association, California craft brewing now sits at the epicenter of the American craft brewing movement and continues to lead the nation in number of breweries per capita – more than any other state with upwards of... Read More +
This February Expect Lubricant Price Increases for all Major Oil Manufacturers Beginning in February 2018 you can expect all major oil manufacturers – Chevron, Shell, Phillips 66, Exxon/Mobil, etc – to roll out lubricant price increases of 5-7% on lubricating oils, coolants/antifreezes and greases, with certain specific products potentially increasing... Read More +
When it Comes to Manufacturing World Class Golf Equipment, San Diego Has Cornered the International Market From Primitive Clubs to NASA Tech Golf is a game that was first played in 15th century Scotland in the Kingdom of Fife, where early enthusiasts would hit a rock or pebble around a... Read More +
A $0.01 Increase on Motor Oil in the State of California As of January 1, 2018, the California Motor Oil Fee increase from $0.04/gallon to $0.05/gallon, raising the state Motor Oil Fee to a total of $0.29/gallon from $0.28/gallon. The tax increase will affect motor oil dealers who produce, sell... Read More +
How Has Biodiesel Evolved and How Are Renewable and Alternative Diesel Products Changing the Game What is Biodiesel Biodiesel is a renewable, biodegradable and clean-burning diesel replacement fuel that was created to reduce our US dependence on foreign oil while at the same time minimize the carbon footprint of diesel... Read More +
How the Petroleum Industry is Moving in the Direction of Increased Consolidation You’re most likely familiar with the terms merger, consolidation and corporate take-overs. A financial situation is considered a merger when two or more corporations combine to form a single corporation, whereby one corporation is absorbed into the other.... Read More +
Stone Brewing – California’s Craft Brew Market Champion As a logistics and solutions provider, SCL has been developing relationships with some of California’s top brewers, providing them with the cleaning supplies and heat transfer fluids that they need to brew their award-winning beer. In this article, we reached out to... Read More +
Understanding The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act Ever heard of the Magnuson-Moss OEM Warranty Act? Not surprising, since it’s a lesser-known remedial law created in 1975 to govern the integrity of warranties on consumer products. The law does not require products to carry a warranty, but if a product is made with... Read More +
Is DEF Considered a Volatile Organic Compound As a DEF distributor we are often asked the question – Is DEF considered a volatile organic compound (VOC)? Diesel exhaust fluid is comprised of an aqueous solution of 32.5% urea and 67.5% deionized water and is used in selective catalytic reduction (SCR)... Read More +
Real Life Sci-Fi – The World of Futuristic Technology As a logistics and solution provider, at SCL we’re keeping our finger on the pulse of changing technological trends in the industry sectors that we serve, seeing how and where we can consistently provide our customers with the products they need... Read More +
There’s not much in this country and in the world that doesn’t spend at least a little bit of time in transit on a truck. The trucking industry delivers our most essential commodities – fuel, eggs, milk, bread, vegetables, and they bring to our doorstep all of the shiny trappings... Read More +
Petroleum products power our cars, heat our homes, light our buildings and move a myriad of consumer goods around the country. The methods by which petroleum products – specifically oil – travels is a fascinating, interconnected web of pipelines, rail lines, shipping lines and trucking routes. Crude oil transportation is... Read More +
An Interview with Paula Guerra – Subject Matter Expert and Sales Associate for Tecalemit Diesel Exhaust Fluid, or DEF is a non-toxic, non-hazardous solution made up of deionized water (67.5%) and urea (32.5%), used to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2010 Diesel Emission Standards to offset emissions in medium... Read More +
How the Fuel Relief Fund is Providing Emergency Fuel to Devastated Communities As of Monday, September 25th, 2017, days after Hurricane Maria ripped across the Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico, there was still no power, electricity or cell service, leaving island inhabitants entirely off the grid in what officials described... Read More +
In a previous post we explored where and how oil originates from a geological perspective, taking a look at the origin of fossil fuels, the conditions under which they developed, the types of rocks and minerals involved in their production and the processes of energy exploration and extraction. In... Read More +
