March 20, 2003 - Société du Craqueur de l’Aubette (SCA) – a joint venture between Shell Petrochimie Mediterranée (SPM) and Basell – is upgrading the steam cracker on the petrochemicals site at Berre, south of France.
Rein Willems, Executive Vice President, Procurement and Product Business Units, Shell Chemicals Limited said: "The project is part of on-going activity across the Shell Chemicals portfolio designed to upgrade and increase asset performance. For SPM, the investment will strengthen the synergies between petrochemicals and refining and consolidate the Berre site’s position as one of the key Shell Chemicals sites worldwide."
Frans Jongen, Basell’s Executive Vice-President, Manufacturing and Services, said: "The project will improve Basell’s position in polyolefins by strengthening the integration between SCA and Basell’s world-scale polypropylene (PP) and low density polyethylene (LDPE) assets in Berre."
The new project will also make it possible to reduce SO2 emissions from the cracker by 25 per cent versus the 2000 level.
Work on the upgrade is expected to begin in mid-2003 and take approximately one year to complete.
Basell develops, produces and markets polypropylene, polyethylene, advanced polyolefin materials and polyolefin catalysts, and also develops and licenses polyolefin processes. Basell's corporate centre is located in Hoofddorp, The Netherlands; the company has regional offices in Wilmington, Delaware. USA; Brussels; Mainz, Germany; Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Hong Kong, as well as manufacturing facilities and sales offices in the major markets around the globe. For more information, visit www.basell.com.
Shell Chemicals collectively refers to the companies of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group engaged in the chemicals business. Shell chemicals companies manufacture and deliver petrochemical building blocks and polyolefins to industrial customers. These products are widely used in plastics, coatings and detergents. For further information please visit www.shell.com/chemicals/news.
For further information please contact:
--Kate Hill, Shell Group Press Office, + 44 (0) 20 7934 2914, kate.hill@shell.com
--Isabelle Trocherie, Basell, +33 1 4964 5507, isabelle.Trocherie@basell.com
