January 17, 2007 – Egyptian Propylene and Polypropylene Company (EPPC) has selected Basell’s Spheripol technology for a new 350 KT per year polypropylene plant to be built at Port Said, Egypt. Start up is expected in 2009.

The project will also include a new 350 KT per year STAR technology propane dehydrogenation plant licensed by Uhde.

“Egypt has a large, growing, and increasingly sophisticated polypropylene market and we are pleased that EPPC has selected the world’s most widely used polypropylene process technology for the new plant,” said Just Jansz, president of Basell’s Technology Business.

EPPC is a joint venture owned by Oriental Petrochemical Company (OPC), Oriental Weavers and ECHEM.
 
Basell is the world leader in the licensing of polyolefin process technologies. To date the company has granted more than 100 process licenses with a combined annual capacity exceeding 20 million tons. In the past 20 years, Basell polypropylene technologies have been used in about half of all new PP projects.

Basell’s portfolio of licensed technologies is comprised of:

• Spheripol – polypropylene technology for the production of homopolymer, random and heterophasic copolymers.
• Spherizone – latest generation polypropylene technology based on new multi-zone reactor technology.
• Spherilene – advanced swing gas phase process for the production of LLDPE, MDPE and HDPE.
• Hostalen - low-pressure slurry process for the production of bi-modal HDPE.
• Lupotech T – high pressure tubular reactor process for the production of LDPE and EVA copolymers.
• Metocene - technology for production of specialty polypropylene products based on proprietary 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 a global leader in the development and licensing of polypropylene and polyethylene processes. 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 Chantal Sohm, Basell Corporate and eBusiness Communications, at +33 1 555 12 119 or chantal.sohm@basell.com