Lanxess to Close Dutch Base Oils Plant

German specialty chemicals group Lanxess has announced it will close its base oils plant in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, by November 2018 at the latest. Lanxess acquired the Ankerweg site as part of its acquisition of US specialty chemicals company Chemtura in April this year.

A substantial part of the site’s activities is also focused on making agricultural active ingredients under a contract manufacturing agreement, which ends at latest in November 2018.

“We carefully analyzed the site and came to the conclusion that we cannot run production there on a competitive basis,” said Anno Borkowsky, head of Lanxess’s Additives business unit. He added that the company can produce the volume of base oils it needs for its own demand, as well as that of the market, in Elmira, Canada.

The company is already negotiating with union representatives with regard to the approximate 100 employees at the Ankerweg site.

Lanxess has previously stated that it expects to achieve synergies of about €100 million by 2020 as a result of the Chemtura acquisition.