Blast and fire at BASF facility: Market effects still uncertain
The impact of this incident on the market is still unclear. "At this point, we cannot comment on any potential impact for customers," a BASF spokesperson stated last night.
The company assured that it will keep the market informed as more information becomes available.
BASF believes that the explosion was triggered by the leak of an organic solvent, but the cause of the incident has yet to be determined.
Its fire department successfully extinguished the fire, and the facility was subsequently shut down; it notified the relevant authorities about the event.
The company's environmental monitoring vehicles detected no product residues inside or outside the plant, and there was no contamination of air, water, or soil.
Fifteen employees sustained minor injuries and have since been discharged.
Causes of chemical plant accidents
There are four common causes of chemical plant disasters: human error, poor training, defective equipment, and poor or infrequent maintenance, finds a report by US legal firm, Arnold & Itkin.
“Chemical plant accidents can be caused by any one of these factors, but most explosions, fires, spills, and other disasters are a result of multiple factors interacting. For instance, defective equipment might not cause an explosion alone, but defective equipment and improper training might.
“The vast majority of chemical plant accidents are absolutely preventable. Good safety practices, frequent maintenance, and clear documentation all go a long way to preventing most chemical plant disasters."
Earlier event resulted in huge vitamin supply disruption
This incident is reminiscent of a previous event in October 2017, when a fire at BASF's northern Citral facilities at the Ludwigshafen site, near Frankfurt, led to a plant shutdown and a force majeure declaration for Citral and Isoprenol-based aroma products.
The event significantly affected the global supply of vitamin E, vitamin A, and related products given that BASF produces 45% of the world's Citral, a key precursor for those essential feed products. The shutdown, with concurrent supply disruptions in China, resulted in the price of those two vitamins rising sharply, prompting market innovation for alternative feed sources.
