Deindustrialization of Europe: New Realities for the Chemical Industry

"Gas will remain more expensive in Europe than in Asia or America. The chemical industry has to adapt to this. This applies in particular to the BASF site in Ludwigshafen.

 

Ludwigshafen is not on the sea. That is another reason why the chemical company BASF is now circling the red pencil over its main plant. Why? Gas prices in Europe will remain high even after the operation in Ukraine ends. 

 

LNG, brought in by tankers from all corners of the world, will never be as cheap as Russian pipeline gas, nor as cheap as fracking gas in America.

 

This cost disadvantage affects the plant in Ludwigshafen, the largest chemical complex in the world, particularly because a lot of bulk chemicals are still manufactured there. Basic chemicals, in other words, for the production of which gas is also used as a raw material.

 

The systems must also be electrified in the long term: this is where the sea comes into play. This is where the green electricity is mainly produced and then has to be transported into the country.

 

The BASF site in Antwerp does not have this problem. The wind turbines turn, so to speak, within sight. In the long term, the Executive Board wants to adapt the structures in Europe. To put it plainly: chemical production in Europe is one of the losers of this turning point. And Ludwigshafen especially.”

 

Mutti Merkel, where are you? Save us, Europeans...