BASF Prepares for Major Investment at Recently Acquired Texas Site

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). BASF Corporation (Florham Park, New Jersey), a subsidiary of BASF AG (NYSE: BF), is planning to invest $70 million or more in its Pasadena, Texas, chemical plant, which was acquired from Sunoco Incorporated late last year. Immediate plans include major retrofits of the 2-EH (2-ethyl hexanol) unit, which will enable it to accept an alternate C4-based feedstock, as well as a significant amount of tank farm expansion.

Of the more aggressive plans, BASF is performing preliminary design and engineering for the addition of a new esterification unit at the site. BASF recently acquired several acres of land from its former neighbor, Enron, on which a methanol plant was closed nearly three years ago. This acquisition was originally planned to provide space for the unit addition, although BASF has now decided this new unit will be located within the boundaries of the existing plant. The additional acreage will provide BASF with valuable real estate in the strategic Southwest market region for future expansions.

BASF anticipates capital approval for significant portions of these growth plans in the next couple of months, with the selection and award of an engineering and construction contractor following shortly. Retrofits of the 2-EH unit and the related OSBL expansions are scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2005. BASF is in the process of completing several NOx emission reduction projects at the Pasadena site and anticipates spending nearly $300,000 for HRVOC compliance projects in 2005.

BASF, just last week, completed moving its North American corporate headquarters from Mount Olive, New Jersey, to Florham Park.

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