BASF’s Freeport facility wins national Energy Efficiency Award
American Chemistry Council honors site for ‘exceptional’ energy conservation programs

FREEPORT, Texas, November 12, 2004 -- BASF’s Freeport site has been recognized by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) as a winner of the organization’s 2003 “Energy Efficiency Award.” The ACC announced the award today during a conference at its offices in Arlington, Va.

BASF has now won the award 11 times, and, with this award, was one of only five companies to receive the ACC’s prestigious “Exceptional Merit” designation.

During a three-month period in 2003, BASF’s Freeport Site Energy Team implemented a number of practices and procedures that resulted in a savings of $2.8 million in energy costs and an annual net carbon dioxide emissions reduction of approximately 2,700 tons.

“The ACC congratulates BASF on its accomplishment. These awards publicly recognize that energy efficiency projects not only reduce greenhouse gases and other emissions but also add appreciably to each company’s bottom line,” said Charles Van Vlack, Executive Vice President of the ACC. “It’s a win-win situation for the country, because the improvements protect the environment while helping American business compete globally.”

“As the world’s leading chemical company, BASF is committed not only to making products better but also to the values and principles of Sustainable Development,” said Art Colwell, Vice President and General Manager of BASF's Freeport site. “Thanks to the innovative thinking and teamwork of the BASF team, we are delivering substantive results in support of environmental excellence.”

Specifically, the actions BASF took that resulted in the savings and reductions included improving waste burning practices, “mothballing” a partially loaded thermal oxidizer and shifting its load to another partially loaded unit, changing minimum “fire set-points” on two steam generators, and various tuning, operational and maintenance improvements.

“A lot of the credit for this award is owed to BASF’s overall energy management structure,” said Thomas Theising, BASF’s Manager of Energy Systems and Energy Audit Team Leader in Freeport. “Our energy auditing process is a modified version of conventional energy auditing which results in ‘deep-seating’ energy conservation and energy awareness into the manufacturing site’s culture. BASF method goes beyond the conventional, with in-depth involvement of production personnel and a ‘question everything’ design of reviewing current practices. We also try to have as diverse a cross section of the facility as we can get, from operations, to maintenance, to purchasing, to accounting, to engineering. The result is better approaches and solutions because of the collective intelligence of the group.”

BASF's Freeport site employs almost 600 employees and 300 contractors and produces chemicals that are used in a wide range of product applications including adhesives, superabsorbers, paints and coatings, nylon and plastics.

BASF - The Chemical Company. We don't make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better.®
BASF Corporation, headquartered in New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF AG, Ludwigshafen, Germany. We employ about 11,000 people in North America and had sales of approximately $9 billion in 2003. For more information about BASF's North American operations, or to sign up to receive news releases by e-mail, visit www.basf.com/usa.

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company. Our goal is to grow profitably and further increase the value of our company. We help our customers to be more successful through intelligent system solutions and high-quality products. BASF’s portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products, agricultural products and fine chemicals to crude oil and natural gas. Through new technologies we can tap into additional market opportunities. We conduct our business in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. In 2003, BASF had sales of approximately $42 billion. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA), New York (BF), Paris (BA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.

For more information, contact:
Sharon Rogers
BASF
Freeport, Texas
Tel: (979) 415-6273
E-mail: rogerssh@basf.com

Glenn Majeski
BASF
Florham Park, N.J.
Tel: (973) 245-6070
E-mail: majeskg@basf.com