BASF blames maintenance costs

Maintenance of key plants will knock $120 million off operating profits for BASF this year, as the company carries out routine maintenance closures of key world-scale plants. The company did not have any comparable turnarounds of world-scale plants in its chemical division last year. Among the maintenance closures are the propane dehydrogenation plant in Tarragona, Spain, and the steam cracker and the butadiene extraction facility in Port Arthur, Texas. The steam cracker is a joint venture between BASF and Total, and the butadiene extraction facility is a joint venture between BASF, Total, and Shell. Other plants to be temporarily closed include the synthesis gas and oxo-alcohols plants in Nanjing, China, and one of BASF's two crackers in Ludwigshafen, Germany, including downstream plants.