Chemical giant BASF on Thursday celebrated the official inauguration of its newly built, world-scale Verbund site in Zhanjiang, a coastal city in Guangdong province, demonstrating its confidence in China's economic prospects.

The development sets a new benchmark for sustainable and integrated chemical production, further strengthening the company's market position in China with a highly diversified portfolio.

Covering an area of around 4 square kilometers, it is more than a major BASF project in the chemical growth market of China.

The Verbund site has emerged as one of the largest foreign-invested enterprises in China's chemical sector and represents BASF's largest investment project in the world, according to Wang Wentao, minister of commerce.

"It is a milestone and a landmark in deepening Sino-German economic and trade cooperation," said Wang in a video speech.

It will create more development opportunities for BASF and inject strong momentum into China's industrial development as well as local economic growth, setting a new benchmark for Sino-German and Sino-European cooperation in the economy and trade, he added.

Markus Kamieth, CEO of BASF, said, "Today marks a very special moment because we are opening a new chapter for BASF in China. We are very proud to have opened a site unlike any other in the world."

"It is the most integrated and the most sustainable chemical site in the world. And we got a lot of recognition and support from the Chinese government to develop such a modern site because it also showcases the development of the chemical industry of the future," he said.

The Zhanjiang site shows what the future of chemicals looks like: efficient, digital and sustainable by design. "The site showcases a smart integrated Verbund structure on an industrial scale," said Kamieth.

The inauguration ceremony, held on Zhanjiang's Donghai Island, was attended by Huang Kunming, Party secretary of Guangdong, and Meng Fanli, Guangdong governor, and representatives from the government, customers, business partners and employees.

At the Zhanjiang site, BASF employs over 2,000 people and will produce a diversified portfolio that includes basic chemicals, intermediates and specialty chemicals for the transportation, consumer goods, electronics, home care and personal care industries.

"This investment shows confidence in the world's largest chemical market in the long run and will be an important element of our 'Winning Ways' strategy," Kamieth said.

The majority of the products manufactured in Zhanjiang will directly serve customers in China, fully aligning with BASF's global "local-for-local" approach, he said.

The project was completed on schedule and well below the original budget, with an investment of around 8.7 billion euros ($10 billion), he added.

Stephan Kothrade, member of the board and chief technology officer of BASF SE, said the project sets new benchmarks for sustainable chemical production in China and worldwide.

"By using Verbund integration, process innovations and renewable energy, CO2 emissions at the site can be reduced by up to 50 percent compared with a conventional petrochemical site," he said.

And long-term green power purchase agreements and investments in an offshore wind farm enable the site's electricity supply to be 100 percent renewable, said Kothrade, who is responsible for the Asia-Pacific region.

"Innovative technologies are also being used for the steam cracker — the starting point of various value chains at the Verbund site," he said.

It has a capacity of 1 million metric tons of ethylene per year and is the world's first cracker equipped with main compressors (e-drives) powered by 100 percent renewable energy, supporting the production of high-quality, low-CO2 products.

The world-scale flex-feed steam cracker is designed to process multiple types of feedstocks, such as naphtha and butane, he added.

Contact the writers at zhengcaixiong@chinadaily.com.cn