The chemical company BASF is abandoning plans for a new nickel-cobalt refinery complex in Indonesia worth billions.

"The global nickel market has changed significantly since the start of the project," explained board member Anup Kothari on Monday evening. "In particular, the supply options and thus the availability of battery-grade nickel for BASF have improved significantly. BASF therefore no longer sees the need for such a significant investment."

The chemical company had planned the project together with the French mining company Eramet. According to earlier information, the investment could have amounted to 2.4 billion euros. The project was based on resources extracted from Eramet's mine in Weda Bay in the North Moluccas. The Weda Bay mine is one of the world's largest nickel mines.

Planning for the refinery complex has been dragging on for several years: BASF and Eramet had signed an agreement in 2020 to jointly evaluate the development of the project. Commissioning was actually planned for the middle of this decade. Indonesia has the world's largest reserves of the important battery material nickel.

(Report by Patricia Weiß, edited by Ralf Banser. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).