February 27, 2007 – “We know that to revitalize the polypropylene industry, we need to innovate,” said Michael P. Mulrooney, president, Basell Polyolefins North America. “There’s no denying it -- these are tough times. We need to innovate in the way we produce polypropylene. We need to innovate with the products we produce, and we need to innovate in the way we serve our customers.”

Mulrooney made the comments yesterday at the Plastics News Executive Forum in San Diego as part of the conference’s Materials Market Prospects overview, before an audience of processors, materials producers and other members of the industry. His innovationfocused presentation included a call-to-action for resin producers and for those upstream and downstream in the supply chain. He also cited examples of Basell’s innovation initiatives and how they are addressing industry needs.

“Today, Basell is the leading polypropylene producer in the United States, as well as
worldwide,” he said. “We are also the leader in polypropylene process technology and catalyst systems. Nearly half of all PP plants built during the past two decades were designed based on Basell process technology. And we have more innovation on the way.”

He added: “Our joint venture in Mexico, Indelpro, is building a new world-scale PP plant based on Basell’s latest generation technology, Spherizone, a manufacturing process which allows entirely new combinations of product properties to be produced. This will benefit our customers and our customers’ customers.”

Addressing the state of the U.S. PP business, Mulrooney pointed out that statistics can often be misleading.

“While domestic sales and use of PP resins may be down in the United States, it doesn’t mean there are fewer PP-based products in this country,” he said. “Domestic resin demand has slowed due to the importation of finished products. Imported toys, automobiles and other products have replaced domestic-produced goods.”

He further pointed out that a key factor impacting market growth is that many applications now use less polymer material. One example he cited was thin-walled, injection molded containers for yogurt applications which now have a wall thickness of less than 0.40 Press millimeters, compared to 0.55 millimeters ten years ago. The same phenomenon has occurred in film applications where biaxially-oriented PP has been down-gauged from 25 microns to 20 microns and below.

Mulrooney also noted how Basell’s commercialization of the “now legendary Spheripol process in 1982” had the same impact on the polypropylene industry that the iPod® has had on the music industry. The launch of the Spheripol process, he said, stimulated unprecedented growth. It attracted new entrants, expanded addressable markets, and stimulated rapid growth in both upstream and downstream industries.

“The success of Spheripol technology, like the iPod, triggered others to create
complementary innovations,” Mulrooney said. “New technologies such as propane
dehydrogenation were commercialized specifically to serve the growing demand for
feedstocks for the new plants being built.”

Commenting on the service side of the industry, Mulrooney said Basell utilizes its global R&D presence and local technical centers to address specific customer needs. “In the end, we think it’s a matter of aligning our technical capabilities with market needs and opportunities,” he said.

Mulrooney was appointed president of Basell’s North American business unit on November 1, 2006. He is responsible for the company’s polyolefins operations in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

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 developing, licensing and providing technical services for polypropylene and polyethylene technologies. Basell, together with its joint ventures, has manufacturing facilities around the world and sells products in more than 120 countries. Additional information about Basell is available at www.basell.com.

For more information contact Michelle Harrell, Basell Corporate Communications, at
+1 410 996 1366, +1 302 438 6574 or michelle.harrell@basell.com or Sophia Dilberakis, SD Communications, +1 312 787 5800, sophiad@att.net.