A Stitch In Time

BASF says it will carry out maintenance closures of key world-scale plants as part of its program of regulatory and routine inspections. The maintenance turnarounds are expected to reduce the operating profits of BASF's chemical division by roughly $120 million this year.

A large share of this amount will be charged to operations in the first half of 2006, the company says. The company did not have any comparable turnarounds of world-scale plants in its chemical division last year.

The aim of the maintenance closures is to facilitate technical inspections, equipment maintenance, cleaning work, and the exchange of used catalysts. Additionally, BASF will also use the time to improve the performance and reliability of the plants affected. During the maintenance program, a number of downstream plants will undergo scheduled inspections.

Among the plants involved is the propane dehydrogenation plant in Tarragona, Spain, scheduled for work in January and February. The steam cracker and the butadiene extraction facility in Port Arthur, Texas, will be overhauled in March and April. The steam cracker is a joint venture between BASF and Total; and the butadiene extraction facility, a joint venture between BASF, Total, and Shell.

Other plants to be temporarily closed for maintenance and inspection will be the synthesis gas and oxo-alcohols plants in Nanjing, China, to be shut down in March and April, and one of BASF's two crackers in Ludwigshafen, Germany, including downstream plants, in April and May.