BASF selling UK site to INEOS

Ludwigshafen, Germany / Lyndhurst, UK –  BASF SE is to sell its Seal Sands site on Teesside to INEOS Nitriles, which will  take on all 240 BASF employees at the complex as well as existing contracts, supply and service arrangements. The deal, for an undisclosed amount,  is subject to approval by competition authorities, the companies said 13 March. 

The Seal Sands site operates production facilities for acrylonitrile (AN), adipodinitrile (ADN) and hexamethylenediamine (HMD), as well as for by-products. These chemical intermediates are used in the production of acrylic and polyamide fibres for clothing and carpets, as well as for acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and polyamide plastics for automotive, electric & electronics and domestic appliance applications.

According to BASF, the HMD plant is excluded from the transaction as it is a key element in its polyamide 6.6 value chain. INEOS Nitriles will, therefore, operate the HMD plant for BASF. Meanwhile, ADN - a feedstock for HMD - will be produced at Seal Sands until the plant's previously announced shut down at the end of 2008.

“We have an external supply agreement for ADN from 2009 onward. The sale of the Seal Sands site is part of our approach to focus on the core assets of our polyamide value chain,” said Dr. Harald Lauke, president of BASF Performance Polymers division.

BASF produces polyamide 6.6 from HMD and adipic acid at its site in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The company also operates fully backward-integrated production plants for polyamide 6 at its sites in Ludwigshafen; Antwerp, Belgium; and Freeport, Texas. The polymers are used to produce engineering plastics for automotive, electric & electronics, furniture and leisure product applications and to produce fibres for textile, carpet and industrial applications.

For INEOS Nitriles, CEO Rob Nevin said: “The purchase of BASF’s Seal Sands manufacturing site is a natural development for INEOS Nitriles and supports our long-term strategy. We have a strong commitment to our customers and this acquisition will support their plans for growth.”

Bernd Brian, Site Director at the Seal Sands site, added: “I am confident that the integration of this site and its workforce into INEOS Nitriles, a company committed to a long-term participation in the acrylonitrile business, will be the best guarantee of continued future success for the Seal Sands site,” said

INEOS Nitriles claims to be the only acrylonitrile and acetonitrile producer with capacity in the Americas and Europe with facilities at Lima, Ohio; Green Lake, Texas; and Cologne, Germany. It employs 370 people and has a turnover of around $1.8 billion.

Parent company INEOS is the world’s third largest chemicals company; a leading manufacturer of petrochemicals, specialty chemicals and oil products. Comprising 18 businesses, with production network spanning 76 manufacturing facilities in 20 countries, the company produces more than 32 million tonnes of petrochemicals, 20 million tons per annum of crude oil refined products. INEOS employs 16,600 people and has sales of around $45 billion.