BASF signs MoU for next ‘verbund’ site in China, mulls 1m tonnes/year cracker

LONDON (ICIS)–BASF is “investigating the possibility” of building its next and third largest highly integrated ‘verbund’ chemical complex in the province of Guangdong in China, the German chemical major said on Monday.

The $10bn project would be operated solely by BASF and have a 1m tonne/year steam cracker at its heart.

BASF CEO Martin Brudermuller signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the project with Lin Shaochun, executive vice governor of Guangdong Province, in the presence of Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Berlin.

The first plants at the complex would start-up in 2026, with completion by 2030, according to the chemicals major.

BASF is focused on its ‘verbund’ concept of highly integrated chemicals production, research and management systems.

Currently it has six ‘verbund’ manufacturing sites in Ludwigshafen, Germany;  Antwerp, Belgium; two in the US: Freeport in Texas and Geismar in Louisiana; and two in Asia: Nanjing in China and Kuantan in Malaysia.

Pictured: China’s “fast-growing, undersupplied” Guangdong province in the south where BASF plans to build its complex
Source: BASF