Factbook
Performance Chemicals
As an innovative partner, the Performance Chemicals division offers chemicals for various customer industries such as plastics, automotive, refineries, lubricants, oilfield and mining. Our highly qualified and experienced team has outstanding market knowledge. Together with our innovation platform and application know-how, this ensures BASF’s technological competence and allows us to provide our customers with excellent solutions.
Sales by region 2023 (location of customer)
Sales by direct customer industry 2023
Portfolio
Fuel and lubricant solutions
BASF is one of the leading suppliers of formulations and components for the global automotive and mineral oil industries. Our portfolio includes:
- Brake fluids and engine coolants
- Fuel additives, lubricant additives and additive packages, base stocks, lubricants
- Low, medium and high molecular weight polyisobutene (PIB)
Mining solutions
BASF’s mining solutions business offers a diverse range of mineral processing and hydrometallurgical chemistries and technologies to improve process efficiencies and the economic extraction of valuable resources. Our offer includes reagents and process technologies focusing on applications such as solid/liquid separation, leaching, solvent extraction, tailings management, flotation, materials handling and grinding.
Oilfield chemicals
Based on industry-leading technical expertise, we offer a wide range of sustainable solutions and high-quality products that help our customers develop efficient formulations for the oil and gas industry. Our product portfolio includes:
- Chemicals for drilling, cementing and stimulation for the completion of production wells
- Additives for continuous and cost-efficient production of oil and gas
- Next-generation surfactants and polymers designed to support enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations
Plastic additives
BASF is the globally leading supplier for stabilizers and additive blends to the plastics and rubber industries. The product range includes high-performance light and thermal stabilizers, antioxidants, process stabilizers, UV absorbers and other specialty additives for those industries. We continuously analyze, assess and actively improve our portfolio toward solutions which make a larger contribution to sustainability. The main fields of application are:
- Automotive
- Agricultural films
- Construction materials
- Electrical and electronics
- Fibers and tapes
- Mechanical recycling
- Packaging and consumer goods
BASF’s market position and main competitors
The Performance Chemicals division holds one of the top three market positions in around three-quarters of the strategic business areas in which it is active.
The main competitors (alphabetical order) include Adeka, Afton, ChampionX, Clariant, ExxonMobil, Lanxess, Lubrizol, Sabo, Solvay and Songwon.
Focus of research and development
Developing solutions together with our customers and ensuring technology leadership to improve our cost position are crucial to the success of Performance Chemicals. By leveraging the breadth of our competencies, we develop products that help improve the performance of our customers’ products and processes. We utilize advances in data analytics, modelling and automation to accelerate development and enable faster implementation of innovations. With sustainability as a key growth driver for our businesses, we focus our innovation pipeline on solutions that will enable the transformations in the end markets. Important fields are resource efficiency, emissions reduction and the circular economy.
Major production sites
| Product group | Site |
| Fuel and lubricant solutions | Antwerp, Belgium; Cincinnati, Ohio; Dahej, India; Geismar, Louisiana; Guaratinguetá, Brazil; Kaisten, Switzerland; Kuantan, Malaysia; Lampertheim and Ludwigshafen, Germany; McIntosh, Alabama; Meaux, France; Nanjing and Shanghai, China; Puebla, Mexico; Singapore |
| Mining solutions | Cork, Ireland; Jacarei, Brazil; Ludwigshafen, Germany; Nanjing, China |
| Oilfield chemicals | Lerma, Mexico; Tarragona, Spain; Trostberg, Germany |
| Plastic additives | Kaisten, Switzerland; Lampertheim, Germany; Manama, Bahrain; McIntosh, Alabama; Pontecchio Marconi, Italy; Puebla, Mexico; Shanghai, China; Singapore |
Acquisitions/JVs/investments
From 2021 onward
| Product group | Description | Year |
| Fuel and lubricant solutions | Capacity expansion for synthetic ester base stocks in Jinshan, China | 2022 |
| New fuel performance additives plant in Shanghai, China | 2022 | |
| Plastic additives | Capacity expansion for antioxidants in Pontecchio Marconi, Italy | 2021 |
| Capacity expansion for Irganox® 1010 in Singapore | 2022 | |
| Capacity expansion for hindered amine light stabilizers (HALS) in Pontecchio Marconi, Italy, and Lampertheim, Germany | 2024 |
Divestitures/shutdowns
From 2021 onward
| Product group | Description | Year |
| Kaolin minerals business | Sale of kaolin minerals business to KaMin LLC. / CADAM S.A. (KaMin) | 2022 |
Innovation example
© Clisol
Additive provides extended greenhouse film durability
BASF’s additive Tinuvin® NOR® 356 protects agricultural plastics from light and thermal damage. It can extend greenhouse film durability by up to 60%, resulting in significant material and cost savings for farmers. Because of the finished product’s high resistance to crop treatments specific to organic farming in combination with excellent optical properties, farmers can increase their crop yield by over 7%, depending on the conditions.