MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the world's petrochemical major, has curtailed ammonia production at its production sites in Antwerp and Ludwigshafen because of high gas prices, reported S&P Global with reference to the company's statement Sept. 27.
The Dutch TTF month-ahead gas contract traded up more than 10% at a high of EUR77.49/MWh (USD90.59/MWh) Sept. 27, having been assessed by S&P Global on Sept. 24 at EUR70.225/MWh.
BASF said it would "continuously monitor the gas price development and adjust its ammonia production accordingly".
Due to the recent rise on natural gas prices in Europe, the economics for operating an ammonia plant in the region had become extremely challenging, it said.
BASF also runs a large gas-fired power plant at Ludwigshafen with over 1 GW capacity.
As MRC informed before, BASF is strengthening its global catalyst development and helping customers to bring new products faster to the market. As part of this strategy, BASF is building a new pilot plant center at its Ludwigshafen site. The new Catalyst Development and Solids Processing Center will serve as a global hub for pilot-scale production and process innovations of chemical catalysts. The new building is scheduled for completion by mid-2024.
We remind that BASF aims is to electrify its production processes for basic chemicals, which are currently based on fossil fuels.
We also remind that in mid-February, BASF said it was restarting one of its steam crackers at its Ludwigshafen complex in Germany after operations were halted earlier that month due to a technical issue. The naphtha cracker produces ethylene and propylene, and is one of two crackers on the site. One has a production capacity of 420,000 metric tons/year, with the other"s capacity at 240,000 metric tons/year, according to IHS Markit data.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC