Construction of ethylene pipeline planned by BASF and six others comes to a standstill in Germany

22-Apr-11

The administrative court of Stuttgart ordered a halt to the construction of an ethylene pipeline in Germany planned by BASF SE (BAS) and six other companies on concern the infrastructure runs too close to housing, as per Bloomberg. The stoppage is for the section between the German towns of Aalen and Rudersberg in the southwest. EPS Ethylen- Pipeline Sued, the project company, can file a complaint at a court in Mannheim within two weeks, she said today by phone. EPS will enter a complaint and is “confident” the court in Mannheim will overturn the Stuttgart court order, as per Klaus Thiel, a spokesman for the pipeline company. The court’s concern that the pipe shouldn’t run less than 350 meters from the buildings doesn’t have basis in German law, he said. Ethylene is a gas used to make plastics.EPS is owned by Basell Polyolefine GmbH, BASF, Borealis Polymere GmbH, Clariant AG, OMV AG, Vinnolit GmbH and Wacker Chemie AG. The pipeline, which will cover about 360 kilometers between Muenchmuenster in Bavaria and Ludwigshafen in Rhineland-Palatinate, should be commissioned this year.