The colossal Baden Aniline and Soda Factory (BASF) verbund facility in Ludwigshafen, Germany, may have to make due with diminished energy supplies if the German state rations gas this fall. This facility is one of six BASF verbund sites and is the largest integrated chemical complex in the world. The site consists of 125 interconnected production plants on 10 square kilometers that share waste heat and generates it’s own electricity and steam. Forbes has described verbund as “… the intelligent interlinking of production plants, energy flows and infrastructure.”

There are many fascinating facts about BASF and the Ludwigshafen verbund site which can be found on the interwebs, so there in no point in duplicating it here. The point of this essay is that the global chemical industry is highly interconnected. Interruption of just one chemical complex like the BASF verbund in Ludwigshafen can lead to disruption in many supply chains in diverse markets. The chemical industry is a web of supply chains where the product of one plant is the raw material for another. Interruptions in energy or materials for one link in the chain will have knock-on effects in others all the way to the final consumer. Nothing unusual about this.

We’ve come to rely on a highly interconnected, interdependent world market that is susceptible to the consequences of political adventures from certain nations. Uncompromising nationalism, ethnic conflict, political turbulence and the current trend of fascist and violent ideology overrunning democratic freedom is threatening this house of cards we’ve built.

Technology can be quite delicate. The success of any given technology constantly depends on people practicing it, improving it and training for it. Whole technologies can be lost if interruptions in continuity from war or deep economic calamity last long enough.