BASF said on Thursday that its plans to build a petrochemicals complex in India worth up to $4 billion with partners had been put on hold due to the economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic.
As part of four-party Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed on October 4, 2019, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Adani Group and Borealis AG have completed a Joint Feasibility Study for a chemical complex in Mundra, India.
The project study comprised a world-scale propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant, a polypropylene (PP) production and an acrylics value chain complex. The planned location at Adani’s Mundra site would enable access to a world-class port and renewable energy supply.
“The global economic uncertainties caused by the pandemic have led the partners to review the timing for undertaking this investment,” BASF said in a statement.
“Despite all attempts to optimize the scope and the configuration, the project has been put on hold.”
BASF in April scaled back its investment budget as the coronavirus crisis hit automakers, the chemicals giant’s biggest customers.
Under the India plan, the partners wanted to build a plant to produce propylene from propane gas to be supplied by ADNOC.
BASF said the partners remained convinced that India was a good place to invest and had agreed to periodically explore market conditions and discuss any opportunity that might arise over time.