2010

On September 28, 2009, the groundbreaking ceremony for the 1.4 billion U.S. dollar development of the site that Sinopec and BASF had agreed on in lengthy negotiations took place.

During the site expansion, Sinopec and BASF surprised everyone at the end of 2010 with even more ambitious goals for their joint chemical facility on the Yangtze River: The company had made plans for the investment of another billion U.S. dollars.

During the Expo 2010, millions of visitors could see to what extent chemical products have improved the quality of life. Germany interpreted the theme of the Expo with its pavilion as “Balancity.” A tour of this city full of ideas also repeatedly featured products and solutions from BASF. The German pavilion, which attracted over four million visitors, received the Golden Award from the Expo management for the best interpretation of the exhibition motto.

New attendance records were still being reported daily for the Expo when Albrecht Heuser, who had become the new division manager of Market and Business Development in Asia Paciifc in March 2010, announced some news: On a site inside the Nanjing Chemical Industry Park, which bordered on the Verbund site, BASF – on its own and as a 100-percent owner – wanted to build large-scale plants for the production of additional specialty chemicals that would be operational by the end of 2012.

Parallel to the expansion of the joint venture and the construction of its own facilities in Nanjing, the MDI project took shape in the Changshou Industrial Park in Chongqing.

The large-scale chemical plants that BASF had established in Nanjing, Caojing and other locations in China were developed on the basis of sound, reliable and highly innovative engineering knowledge. Now the goal was to develop a concept with which investments in Asia Paciifc could be implemented even more efficiently and cheaply.

"We are trying to bring the best from east and west together here. The vast experience that we have gained in the 150-year history of our company reveals completely new potentials to us in connection with Asian dynamism and speed."

Klaus Welsch
Responsible Project Engineer