Germany-based BASF, a leading chemical company, is planning an investment of $4 billion in Iran, said a report.
Together with an Iranian company, BASF wants to build new petrochemical plants near Iran’s petrochemical and gas industry hub in Assaluyeh, Bushehr Province, added Iran Daily News, citing a Handelsblatt report.
In April, BASF signed a memorandum of understanding with National Iranian Oil Company on future cooperation, it said.
The German company has been in business with Iran since 1959. In addition to a sales office in Tehran, BASF maintains a polyurethane system house for production of plastics northwest of the capital, but its operation is currently very limited.
Additionally, Munich gas manufacturer Linde was also interested in investment worth billions of dollars in the Iranian petrochemical industry jointly with the Japanese Mitsui Group.
According to Handelsblatt, Linde CEO Wolfgang Büchele has been in “pre-business talks” with the Iranians for some time. Neither BASF nor Linde commented on the report, the paper said.
Iran wants to use its huge reserves of raw materials to establish itself as the largest supplier of basic chemicals in the Gulf, added the report.
Source: Trade Arabia
France has launched an offshore green hydrogen production platform at the country’s Port of Saint-Nazaire this week, along with its first offshore wind farm. The hydrogen plant, which its operators say is the world’s first facility of its type, coincides with the launch of another “first of its kind” facility in Sweden dedicated to storing hydrogen in an underground lined rock cavern (LRC).
The project sets up the Hydrogen Valley in Rome, the first industrial-scale technological hub for the development of the national supply chain for the production, transport, storage and use of hydrogen for the decarbonization of industrial processes and for sustainable mobility.
At first glance, hydrogen seems to be the perfect solution to our energy needs. It doesn’t produce any carbon dioxide when used. It can store energy for long periods of time. It doesn’t leave behind hazardous waste materials, like nuclear does. And it doesn’t require large swathes of land to be flooded, like hydroelectricity. Seems too good to be true. So…what’s the catch?
