BASF Continues to Invest in Louisiana Operations

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--BASF Corporation (Florham Park, New Jersey) is the United States corporate headquarters of parent company BASF SE (OTC:BASFY) (Ludwigshafen, Germany), one of the largest chemical companies in the world, with an employee count in excess of 100,000.

The reorganization of the company in 2008 and 2009 was a fairly successful attempt to minimize the negative effects of the worldwide economic downturn. The sheer size of the company, with almost 50.7 billion euros ($61.9 billion) in sales, required management to quickly reduce costs, adjust capacities and improve efficiencies to continue to prosper in the increasingly challenging global economy.

At BASF's plant in Geismar, Louisiana, the company chose to continue with a roughly $100 million expansion project, which is under way and will add a methylamines unit, designated as Plant VII, which is scheduled for completion in the first half of 2011. Ford, Bacon & Davis (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) was involved in the front-end engineering and design for this project. Civil construction for the project began in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Maintenance and reliability continue to be a priority at this plant, which has several maintenance turnarounds scheduled from now through 2012 on several different areas and units, including the powerhouse and work in the utilities areas. The continued focus on reliability prepares the plant for any extended upsurges or steady increases in demand for products from the Geismar facility.

In the midst of financial turmoil, BASF continues to invest in its Louisiana operations. The continued maintenance and capital investment is needed at this time more than ever and indicates that BASF intends to have a strong presence in the area for some time under the company's present business strategy.

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