Basell announced today that it has reached an agreement with Indelpro SA de CV to license Basell’s Spherizone process for the operation of a new 350 KT polypropylene plant to be constructed in Mexico.

Indelpro, the polyolefins joint venture owned by Alpek and Basell and Mexico’s only polypropylene producer, will construct the plant at the port of Altamira, Mexico, where the company has operated a Spheripol process PP plant since 1992. With start-up targeted for the 3rd quarter of 2006, the new Spherizone plant will increase total PP capacity at the Indelpro site to 550 KT.

The Spherizone process has been available for license on a global basis since October. “This new manufacturing technology significantly and uniquely expands polypropylene’s product capability for a range of applications with enhanced performance in properties such as impact / stiffness balance and clarity,” said Just Jansz, president of Basell’s Technology Business.  “It also offers the benefit of very competitive capital and operating costs due to its new patented, multi-zone circulating reactor system.”

Basell started up the first commercial Spherizone process plant in Brindisi, Italy in 2002. The new multi-zone reactor design of the Spherizone process can produce bi-modal products in a single reactor due to its ability to operate dual phases in a continuously circulating system. The result is a polymer with extremely uniform properties throughout the reactor.

Basell is the world's 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 additional information contact Basell’s licensing organisation at licensing@basell.com, or Michelle Talmo, Basell Corporate Communications at +1 302 438 6574, +1 410 996 1366 or michelle.talmo@basell.com