23 – Other provisions

Restoration obligations primarily relate to the estimated costs for the filling of wells and the removal of production equipment after the end of production in the Oil & Gas segment. Provisions for restoration obligations decreased by €340 million as a result of the asset swap with Gazprom and the reclassification of Wintershall Noordzee B.V., Rijswijk, Netherlands, to the equity method.

Provisions for environmental protection and remediation costs cover expected costs for rehabilitating contaminated sites, recultivating landfills, removal of environmental contamination at existing production or storage sites and similar measures. The decrease in provisions was almost entirely attributable to the changed accounting for emission right certificates granted free of charge.

Provisions for employee obligations primarily include obligations for the granting of long-service bonuses and anniversary payments, variable compensation including associated social security contributions, as well as provisions for early retirement programs for employees nearing retirement. The decline was mainly attributable to lower accruals for variable compensation components.

Obligations from sales and purchase contracts largely include obligations arising from rebates granted and other price discounts in the Agricultural Solutions segment, warranties and product liability, sales commissions, expected losses on committed purchases and onerous contracts.

The restructuring measures provisions include severance payments to employees as well as expected costs for site closures, including the costs for demolition and similar measures. The increase in provisions resulted from higher accruals for restructuring measures in North America. On the balance sheet date, €115 million was attributable to provisions for severance payments.

Provisions for litigation, damage claims, warranties and similar commitments contain anticipated expenses from lawsuits in which BASF is the defendant party, as well as obligations under damage claims against BASF and fines.

Other largely includes noncurrent tax provisions.

The following table shows the development of other provisions by category. Other changes include changes in the scope of consolidation, acquisitions, divestitures, currency effects and the reclassification of obligations to liabilities when the amount and timing of these obligations became known.