11 – Noncurrent assets

Significant investments in the first half of 2017 especially pertained to oil and gas production facilities and wells in Europe and South America; an acetylene plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany; the aroma ingredients complex in Kuantan, Malaysia; and the modification of production plants for plasticizers in Pasadena, Texas. Additional investments were made particularly at the sites in Ludwigshafen, Germany; Shanghai, China; Freeport, Texas; Geismar, Louisiana; and Antwerp, Belgium.

Disposals of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets were mainly attributable to the derecognition of fully written off assets. Furthermore, disposals particularly included the divestiture of the Evans City site in Pennsylvania.

Depreciation of property, plant and equipment contained an impairment and a write-up in the Oil & Gas segment that almost fully counterbalanced each other.

Impairments in connection with a planned plant closure in North America increased the level of depreciation.

Exchange differences for property, plant and equipment arose to a large extent from the depreciation of the U.S. dollar, the Chinese renminbi and the Brazilian real relative to the euro.