Global chemistry
7 Jan 2014
The boss of German chemicals giant BASF tells John McKenna about his dislike of renewable electricity, trade unions and pensions, and his love of shale gas, automation and plants that operate 24/7.
There are, so the saying goes, good days to bury bad news. BASF chairman Kurt Bock had such a day back in October when, at the same time as his firm announced the closure of its pigment plant in Paisley, resulting in 141 job losses, Ineos announced the closure of its petrochemicals complex at Grangemouth, resulting in 800 job losses.
Despite being on first-name terms with Ineos chairman Jim Ratcliffe, Bock insists it was sheer luck.
“[With Paisley] we got lucky because at the same time the Ineos story broke,” says Bock.
“But it really was a coincidence. It was all a complete surprise.”
By the time Ineos reversed its decision two days later, the Paisley plant closure was old news, and had been restricted to a few small down page articles rather than being front page news like Ineos.
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