April 19, 2007 – Qatar Petrochemical Co. Ltd (QAPCO), a joint venture of Industries of Qatar and Total Petrochemicals, has chosen Basell’s Lupotech T technology for a new 250 KT per year low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant to be built in Mesaieed, Qatar. The start-up of the new plant is expected in 2011.

“This is the 50th Lupotech T technology license worldwide and we are very pleased to work together with QAPCO in their important expansion project,” Just Jansz, president of Basell’s Technology Business, said yesterday at the signing ceremony in Doha.

Jansz added, “The Middle East requires world-scale plants to take full advantage of the abundant availability of feedstock for petrochemicals. Scale is one of the advantages offered by Basell’s Lupotech T technology, in combination with demonstrated product capability, thus offering excellent manufacturing economics and a broad range of high quality products.”

Key features in the selection of Lupotech T technology include low manufacturing costs, fast start-up and grade changes, and a high on-stream factor which make it today’s technology of choice for the production of LDPE.

Lupotech T is the leading high pressure tubular reactor process for the production of LDPE homopolymers and EVA-copolymers. With 14 Lupotech T plants licensed since 2000 and a total of more than seven million tonnes per year of licensed capacity, Lupotech T has established itself as the clear front runner in high pressure LDPE technology.

In addition to the Lupotech T process, Basell’s portfolio of licensed technologies and associated technical services is comprised of:

• Spheripol – leading polypropylene technology for the production of homopolymer, random and heterophasic copolymers
• Spherizone – latest generation polypropylene technology based on new multi-zone circulating reactor technology
• Spherilene – advanced swing gas phase process for the production of LLDPE, MDPE and HDPE
• Hostalen – leading low-pressure slurry process for the production of bimodal HDPE
• Metocene PP – technology for the production of specialty polypropylene products using single-site catalyst systems

Basell is the global leader in polyolefins technology, production and marketing. It is the largest producer of polypropylene and advanced polyolefin products; a leading supplier of polyethylene and catalysts, and the industry leader in licensing polypropylene and polyethylene processes, including providing technical services for its proprietary technologies. Basell, together with its joint ventures, has manufacturing facilities in 19 countries and sells products in more than 120 countries. Additional information about Basell is available at www.basell.com.

For more information contact Waldemar Oldenburger, Basell Corporate Communications at +49 69 305 854 59 or waldemar.oldenburger@basell.com