Consumables

BASF and SINOPEC to further expand Nanjing joint venture

Friday 17. December 2010 - BASF-YPC celebrates 10-year anniversary with new expansion plans

MoU includes both construction of new plants and capacity increase of existing plants
Operations and products contribute to the sustainable development of China
On the eve of the 10th anniversary of BASF-YPC, BASF and SINOPEC have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly explore the further expansion of their integrated petrochemical joint venture, BASF-YPC Co., Ltd.
The new projects under consideration will extend the C3 and C4 value chains, including the construction of a new acrylic acid facility with a capacity of 160,000 tons per year, a new butyl acrylate plant, as well as capacity increases at the 2-propyl-heptanol, styrene monomer, and non-ionic surfactants plants. The superabsorbent polymers (SAP) plant, to be constructed as the final part of the ongoing expansion project, will be supplied with feedstock from the acrylic acid facility. A new world-scale hydrogen peroxide-propylene oxide (HPPO) facility is also included in the new investments under consideration. The new investments under consideration collectively total approximately USD 1 billion.
The final scope of the investments under consideration will be determined following joint feasibility studies for each of the projects.
The agreement was signed today in Beijing by Dr. Wang Tianpu, Vice Chairman and President, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC), Dr. Ma Qiulin, General Manager of SINOPEC Yangzi Petrochemical Company Limited, Dr. Martin Brudermüller, member of the Board of Executive Directors, BASF SE, responsible for Asia Pacific, and Dr. Albert Heuser, President, Asia Pacific, BASF.
Mr. Wang Tianpu, President of SINOPEC, said, “BASF-YPC is a role-model of successful cooperation between BASF and SINOPEC, also a good example of SINOPEC’s international partnerships. With this further development of BASF-YPC, both parties will foster the integration of BASF-YPC , broaden the portfolio of downstream products in Nanjing, and meet the increasing demands on new materials in the East China region and across the country.” During the 11th Five-Year Plan period, SINOPEC has established 16 joint ventures with foreign companies, and the total foreign investment reached $4.639 billion.
“As the Chinese market continues its rapid growth, we are committed to enhancing our position by further expanding our specialty chemicals business. Our longstanding partnership with SINOPEC will be intensified, and our unique integrated production system will be further strengthened by extending value chains as well as by adding new product lines,” said Brudermüller . “According to BASF’s Asia Pacific Strategy 2020, we intend to produce 70% of our Asia Pacific sales in the region, and the continued development of our local production base in China is crucial to achieve this.” BASF plans to invest approximately €2 billion in Asia Pacific between 2009 and 2013.
The new projects under consideration together with the current production plants provide raw materials for growing customer industries for environmentally-friendly industrial and household applications in China such as coatings or cleaning and detergents.
In accordance with the philosophy shared by SINOPEC and BASF, BASF-YPC also demonstrates sustainability in its operations as it has maintained similar levels of energy consumption and emissions during the past few years, despite an increase in production. Over 90% of the waste generated is recycled or reused, while 98.5% of water is reused.
These planned new investments are a further expansion for BASF-YPC, adding to the currently ongoing joint investment of approximately $1.4 billion in state-of-the-art technologies to produce downstream specialty chemicals for the Chinese market, serving multiple industries such as construction, electronics, pharmaceutical, automotive and chemical manufacturing. Construction is approximately 50% complete.
Since 1986 when BASF and SINOPEC established their first joint venture, Shanghai Gaoqiao BASF Company Limited, they further jointly invested in the Yangzi-BASF Styrenics Company Limited in 1997, BASF-YPC Company Limited in 2000 and the expansion project of BASF-YPC in 2009. The total joint investment is more than RMB33 billion (approximately €3.7 billion).