European chemical major BASF AG is going to expand the capacity of its naphtha steam cracker at its site in Antwerp, Belgium. The expansion project will be conducted during the next regular turnaround of the plant scheduled for the fall of 2007 to avoid any additional shutdown.

The investment of about €200 million will raise ethylene capacity from 800,000 metric tons per year to 1.08 million metric tons per year – making the plant the largest single-train steam cracker in Europe.

“The expansion of our cracker in Antwerp – the starting point for our essential value chains – is an investment with a special strategic importance for BASF,” said Dr. Stefan Marcinowski, Board Member at BASF Aktiengesellschaft, responsible for the Chemicals segment.

“We carefully evaluated our internal demand developments and the external market situation for cracker products and came to the conclusion that 2007 is the right time for the expansion,” said Dr. Werner Prätorius, President of BASF’s Petrochemical division.

“As to our underlying investment strategy, the additional olefins and aromatics volumes from the expansion will be absorbed by existing and future internal demand. As in the past, part of the ethylene output of the cracker will be marketed either directly or preferably via heterogeneous swap arrangements for other chemicals. As no major new cracker projects are foreseen in Europe until at least 2009 and in view of projected average demand growth of 1 to 1.5 percent per year, the additional ethylene volumes will fit into the market,” Prätorius added.

The expansion will thus further secure the competitive supply of BASF’s internal value chains with the whole range of cracker products. “This expansion will further strengthen the competitive position of the steam cracker and all downstream units that are supplied with cracker products. This project is a major step to further optimize BASF’s highly integrated Verbund structure in Antwerp,” said John Dejaeger, Managing Director and Chairman of the Executive Committee of BASF Antwerp NV.

Mainly based on naphtha as feedstock, BASF’s steam crackers produce a wide range of petrochemical base products, such as ethylene, propylene, butadiene and aromatics. These products are then used as raw materials in numerous downstream plants, where they are converted into intermediates for a vast array of industries and consumer products.

Via BASF’s value chains, the products from the steam cracker are ultimately used in the automobile and construction industries, as well as in the production of detergents, packaging, household appliances, and numerous other consumer goods.

BASF operates other steam crackers in Ludwigshafen, Germany; Port Arthur, Texas; and Nanjing, China.

Chemical producer, BASF Aktiengesellschaft (AG), of Ludwigshafen, Germany, was incorporated in 1865. Eight years later, the company became active in North America by establishing a partnership with a New York City-based marketing company.
 
BASF AG