BASF has announced it will build a state-of-the-art plant for customer specific antioxidant blends (CSB) in Bahrain. CSBs are key additives for the production of polymers for the plastics industry, especially for the Middle East region. Construction of the new facility will start in September. It will become one of the world's largest CSB plants with an annual capacity of about 16,000 metric tons. The new plant will be operational already by end of 2012.

This new plant will come in addition to the existing manufacturing agreement for CSBs with Astra Polymer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, making BASF the largest CSB supplier in this region, the company said. BASF also said that the facility will be well positioned to serve the fast growing polymer market in the Middle East with special focus on key customers in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), one of the fastest growing regions for the production of polyolefin resins worldwide.